Portrait of a Lady

In the Netherlands around 1460, a fashionable woman shaved the hair from the front of her head so that her forehead looked higher, and this sitter has done exactly that. Over a low yellow cone she wears a fine veil, folded and pinned into the shape of an M. The painter went further and placed her ears high to make her neck look longer. Her gown is brown wool, with a red panel filling the V of the neckline and a purple silk belt. The clothes are good but not lavish, and she may have been a gentlewoman rather than an aristocrat. Her name is unknown. The panel comes from the workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, painted by an assistant or follower. One touch is missing from the portraits by Rogier himself. The sitter and the frame cast faint shadows on the dark background.