Portrait of a Lady
mid-17th century
Cornelis Visscher captures a moment of quiet elegance in this mid-17th-century portrait, using soft strokes to render the textures of the lady's dress and wide collar. Notice her remarkably high forehead—a fashionable beauty standard of the Dutch Golden Age where women would pluck their hairlines to achieve a look of intelligence and nobility. Her wide-eyed gaze and the delicate rendering of her lace cuffs show off Visscher's incredible skill as a draftsman, proving that a simple drawing can hold just as much power as a painted masterpiece.