Description: Black chalk, 226 x 173 mm. Framed by the artist in black chalk on three sides. 2–3 mm outside this line is a plate impression, suggesting that a counter-proof has been taken. Some contours have been reinforced with sharp lines in black chalk. Watermark: Horn. Chain lines: 24 mm. Dated on the balustrade, in black chalk, 1669. Inscribed in the lower right corner, Gerard Dou, and numbered 1942 and 57 (struck out). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

The attribution to De Bray was suggested by Van Regteren Altena. The pose, the smile and the direct look of the model, as well as the hairstyle and the floral decoration in the hair, are taken from Rubens’s full-length portrait of Hélène Fourment in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, in which there is a similar balustrade behind the model. There is a clear affinity with De Bray’s drawing of a young girl with a hand on a balustrade in a private collection, dated 1650.  However, Coenen convincingly proposes Van der Cooghen, another Haarlem artist who would have known De Bray. The closest parallel would be a portrait drawing in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 122]

Utforska konstnärer och föremål som finns i Nationalmuseums samlingar.

Explore the artists and artworks of Nationalmuseum Sweden.

Leendert Cooghen | Kvinna bakom en balustrad | Nationalmuseum

Leendert Cooghen | Woman Behind a Balustrade | Nationalmuseum

Foto: Hans Thorwid / Nationalmuseum, CC BY SA 