Portrait of Amalia of Solms-Braunfels

The museum's own label calls her simply a young lady. The name attached to her here, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, points to the wife of the Dutch stadholder Frederik Hendrik of Orange, whom van Dyck did paint when he visited the court at The Hague in the winter of 1631 to 1632. The identification of this sitter, though, is not secure, and the museum's description treats her as unknown. What is certain is how she was painted, around 1630 to 1632. The museum singles out the softly waved hair, the shimmering silk, the fine tracery of the lace, and the gleam of pearls and gold chains, all set against a dark ground. The canvas is recorded in the Vienna gallery from 1720.