Skip to main content

Flemish, 'Portrait of an Elderly Woman', late 17th century

About the work

Although this picture has been given the title of Portrait of an Elderly Woman, the unknown artist has given the sitter few signs of age. She is unwrinkled, her small mouth is full and her eyes are clear. Her hair is dark, dressed in a plain but natural style, hanging either side of her face.

Like her hair, her dress is unpretentious. In the bourgeois fashion of the later part of the seventeenth century in the Southern Netherlands, her sleeves are slashed to show the white satin of her undergarment. The pearls around her neck glint in the light, and behind her a deep, red silk curtain makes a warm, flattering background.

Key facts

Full title
Portrait of an Elderly Woman
Artist
Flemish
Date made
late 17th century
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
70.9 × 60.6 cm
Acquisition credit
Sir Claude Phillips Bequest, 1924
Inventory number
NG3963
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

More works by Flemish

Cognoscenti in a Room hung with Pictures
Cognoscenti in a Room hung with Pictures
Flemish
Eleven finely dressed men inspect and discuss the contents of a large room packed with works of art, astronomical instruments and antiques. Their distinctive features suggest that these might be portraits of known artists, connoisseurs, collectors and art dealers – the ‘cognoscenti’ of the painti...
Room 27
Portrait of a Boy holding a Rose
Portrait of a Boy holding a Rose
Flemish
We don't know who the boy in the portrait is, or who painted it. It was once thought to have been the work of François Duchastel, a Flemish painter living in Ghent, but the attribution is now considered uncertain. From his ornate, costly costume, fashionable in the Southern Netherlands in the 166...
Not on display
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Man
Flemish
This painting was bequeathed to the National Gallery in 1900 but we have no record of earlier owners, nor of the name of the sitter or artist, nor of the date. It’s hard even to be sure where it was made. Until the 1950s it was thought to be Dutch, but now it’s believed that the style of painting...
Not on display
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Man
Flemish
The composition derives from a print of 1624 by Paulus Pontius, made after a portrait of the same date by Rubens of Prince Vladislav Sigismond, later King of Poland. We can tell that the artist has used the print as a source because some of the details – as on the hilt of the sword – are slightly...
Not on display
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Man
Flemish
An unidentified young man looks out at us with a direct gaze. Painted by an unknown artist, he is shown leaning against a stone archway covered with a swathe of white satin curtain. His expensive lace collar and cuffs are well displayed. His youth is emphasised by his sparse moustache and wisp of...
Not on display
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of a Man
Flemish
This half-length portrait is on paper later attached to an oak panel. A young man wearing a slight, almost boyish moustache looks towards the viewer, his determined expression emphasised by his pose, with his right hand raised to his chest and his left resting on his hip. He is dressed in a black...
Not on display