About this work
*Portrait of a Lady* is a small oil-on-oak panel painting executed around 1460 — and it arrives with an almost architectural stillness. The woman, probably in her late teens or early twenties, is shown half-length and in three-quarters profile, set against a two-dimensional interior background of deep blue-green.
The composition is built from the geometric shapes that form the lines of the woman's veil, neckline, face, and arms, and by the fall of the light that illuminates her face and headdress.
She wears an elegant low-cut black dress with dark bands of fur at the neck and wrist, cut in the then-fashionable Burgundian style that emphasises the tall and thin aesthetic of the Gothic ideal, cinched by a bright red sash pulled in below her breasts; above, a buff-coloured hennin headdress is draped with a large transparent veil that spills over her shoulders to her upper arms.
Light falls with exquisite beauty along the creases of the sheer veiling, and gentle shadows mark her fine bone structure.
The woman's humility and reserved demeanour are conveyed through her fragile physique, lowered eyes, and tightly grasped fingers — the downcast eyes, firmly set lips, and tense fingers reflect her mental concentration, as van der Weyden juxtaposes the sensation of the sitter's acute inner life against the rigid formality of her costume and pose, producing an image of passionate austerity.
Although van der Weyden did not title the work and the sitter's name is not recorded in any early inventories, the style of her dress places the picture very late in his career — the c. 1460 dating is based on the high-fashion costume and its apparent position in the evolution of his style, though it may have been painted even later, as van der Weyden died in 1464.
It is the only known portrait of a woman accepted as an autograph work by van der Weyden.
Although the sitter's identity is unknown, her air of self-conscious dignity suggests membership in the nobility, and her costume and severely plucked eyebrows and hairline are typical of those favoured by highly placed ladies of the Burgundian court.
Van der Weyden was preoccupied by commissioned portraiture towards the end of his life and was highly regarded by later generations of painters for his penetrating evocations of character.
By the time of the work's completion, van der Weyden had eclipsed even van Eyck in popularity, and this painting is typical of the austere spirituality — over van Eyck's sensuality —
