Katherina

In the winter of 1520 to 1521 Dürer was travelling through the Netherlands, and in Antwerp he spent time around João Brandão, the agent who handled Portuguese trade in the city. In Brandão's household he drew a young woman named Katherina. He wrote her name at the top of the sheet, along with her age, 20, and the year. Katherina was almost certainly enslaved, one of the Africans brought into Antwerp through Portuguese trade, and this small drawing is the earliest known portrait taken from life of a named Black African woman in Europe. He worked in silverpoint, which allows no correction: every line is set down once with a metal stylus on prepared paper. He drew her lightly turned to one side, her head lowered, wearing a plain headscarf tied close under the chin.