A Portrait of a Woman
Jan de Bray
1650
Medium
Black and red chalk on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
16.4 × 12.8 cm (6 1/2 × 5 1/16 in.)
Classification
drawings (visual works)
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
228932
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Jan de Bray used finely pointed red and black chalk in alternation to describe the facial features of middle-aged residents of the city of Haarlem. He also captured the distinctive features of their clothing, such as buttons, pleats, seams, and the stiffly pressed lace of their elaborate collars.