Portrait Of A Lady (van Der Weyden)
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''Portrait of a Lady'' (or ''Portrait of a Woman'') is a small oil-on-oak panel painting executed around 1460 by the Netherlandish painter
Rogier van der Weyden Rogier van der Weyden () or Roger de la Pasture (1399 or 140018 June 1464) was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly ...
. The composition is built from the geometric shapes that form the lines of the woman's
veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...
, neckline, face, and arms, and by the fall of the light that illuminates her face and headdress. The vivid contrasts of darkness and light enhance the almost unnatural beauty and Gothic elegance of the model. Van der Weyden was preoccupied by commissioned
portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...
towards the end of his lifeHand& Wolff, 242 and was highly regarded by later generations of painters for his penetrating evocations of character. In this work, the woman's humility and reserved demeanour are conveyed through her fragile physique, lowered eyes and tightly grasped fingers.Kleiner, 407 She is slender and depicted according to the Gothic ideal of elongated features, indicated by her narrow shoulders, tightly pinned hair, high forehead and the elaborate frame set by the headdress. It is the only known portrait of a woman accepted as an autograph work by van der Weyden, yet the sitter's name is not recorded and he did not title the work. Although van der Weyden did not adhere to the conventions of idealisation, he generally sought to flatter his sitters. He depicted his models in highly fashionable clothing, often with rounded—almost sculpted—facial features, some of which deviated from natural representation. He adapted his own aesthetic, and his portraits of women often bear a striking resemblance to each other.Grössinger, 60 The painting has been in the
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
in Washington, D.C. since its donation in 1937, and is no. 34 in the de Vos
catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...
of the artist. It has been described as "famous among all portraits of women of all schools".Van Der Elst, 76


Composition

The woman, who is probably in her late teens or early twenties, is shown half-length and in three-quarters profile, set against a two-dimensional interior background of deep blue-green. The background is
flat Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...
and lacks the attention to detail common in van der Weyden's devotional works. Like his contemporary
Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. Ac ...
(c. 1395 – 1441), when working in portraiture, he used dark planes to focus attention on the sitter. It was not until
Hans Memling Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...
(c. 1435–1494), a pupil of van der Weyden, that a Netherlandish artist set a portrait against an exterior or landscape. In this work the flat setting allows the viewer to settle on the woman's face and quiet self-possession. Van der Weyden reduces his focus to four basic features: the woman's headdress, dress, face and hands. The background has darkened with age; it is likely that the angles created by the sitter's
hennin The hennin (french: hennin ; possibly from Flemish nl, henninck meaning cock or rooster) was a headdress in the shape of a cone, steeple, or truncated cone worn in the Late Middle Ages by European women of the nobility. They were most common in ...
and dress were once much sharper. The woman wears an elegant low-cut black dress with dark bands of fur at the neck and wrist. Her clothes are of the then-fashionable Burgundian style, which emphasises the tall and thin aesthetic of the
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
ideal.Van der Weyden often worked on commission from members of the Burgundian court. See Schneider, 40 Her dress is buckled by a bright red sash pulled in below her breasts. The
buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional ...
-coloured hennin headdress is draped with a large transparent veil, which spills over her shoulders, reaching her upper arms. Van der Weyden's attention to the structure of the clothing—the careful detailing of the pins pushed into the veil to fix its position—is typical for the artist."Dress and Reality in Rogier Van der Weyden" by Margaret Scott, in Campbell and Van der Stock, 140 The woman's veil forms a diamond shape, balanced by the inverse flow of a light vest worn beneath her dress. She is shown at a slight angle, but her pose is centred by the interlocked broad lines of arms,
décolletage Cleavage is the narrow depression or hollow between the breasts of a woman. The superior portion of cleavage may be accentuated by clothing such as a low-cut neckline that exposes the division, and often the term is used to describe the low neck ...
and veil. The woman's head is delicately lit, leaving no strong tonal contrasts on her skin. She has a long, thin face, plucked eyebrows and eyelids, and a plucked hairline to create a fashionably high forehead.A plucked hairline was also the fashion in Renaissance Italy at the time. Her hair is tightly pinned back on the rim of the bonnet and rests above her ear. Her high headdress and severe hairline accentuate her elongated face, giving it a sculpted appearance. The woman's left ear is set, according to art historian Norbert Schneider, unnaturally high and far back, parallel to her eyes rather than to her nose; this position is probably an artistic device used to continue the flow of the diagonal line of the veil's inner-right wing. In the 15th century, veils were normally worn for modesty, to hide the sensuality of the flesh. In this work the veil has the opposite effect; the woman's face is framed by the headdress to draw attention to her beauty.Schneider, 40 The woman's hands are crossed tightly as if in prayer, and positioned so low in the painting as to appear to be resting on the frame.Hand and Wolff, 244 They are rendered as tightly compressed into a small area of the picture; it is likely van der Weyden did not want them to result in an area of high tone that might distract from the description of her head. Her slender fingers are minutely detailed; van der Weyden often indicated the social position of his models through his rendering of their face and hands. The sleeve of her dress extends beyond her wrists. Her fingers are folded in layers; their intricate portrayal is the most detailed element in the painting, and echoes the pyramidal form of the upper portion of the painting. Her eyes gaze downward in humility, in contrast to her relatively extravagant clothes. The piety of her expression is achieved through motifs common to van der Weyden's work. Her eyes and nose are elongated and her lower lip made fuller by the use of tone and pronounced finish. Some vertical lines around these features are emphasised, while her pupils are enlarged and her eyebrows slightly raised. In addition the contours of her face are highlighted in a manner that is slightly unnatural and abstract,Campbell, 15 and outside the usual spatial constraints of 15th-century human representation. This methodology was described by art historian
Erwin Panofsky Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 in Hannover – March 14, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a German-Jewish art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. Panofsky's work represents a hig ...
: "Rogier concentrated on certain salient features—salient both from a
physiognomical Physiognomy (from the Greek , , meaning "nature", and , meaning "judge" or "interpreter") is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general ...
and psychological point of view—which he expressed primarily by lines."Kemperdick, 22 Her high forehead and full mouth have been seen as suggestive of a nature at once intellectual, ascetic, and passionate, symbolic of "an unresolved conflict in her personality".Walker, 126 Panofsky refers to a "smouldering excitability".Panofsky, p. 292: "In the superficially similar but considerably later '' Portrait of a Young Lady'' in the National Gallery of Washington, the hands are analogously placed but the intertwisted fingers reveal a smouldering excitability which, even more severely repressed, lives in her veiled, downcast eyes and full, sensuous lips." The sitter is unknown, although some art historians have speculated on her identity. On the grounds of similarity of facial features, writer Wilhelm Stein suggested in the early 20th century that she might be Marie de Valengin, the illegitimate daughter of Philip the Good of Burgundy.
Philip the Good Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...
commissioned a portrait from Van der Weyden around 1450
However, this is a contentious assertion and not widely held. Because her hands are shown as resting on the painting's lower frame, art historians generally accept that this was an independent portrait, rather than a devotional work. It is possible that it was intended as a pendant to a picture of the woman's husband, however no other portrait has been suggested as a likely companion.


Break from idealisation

Van der Weyden worked in the same tradition of portraiture as contemporaries Jan van EyckWhile van der Weyden would have seen van Eyck's work, it is not known if the two met. Van Eyck died in 1441 and
Robert Campin Robert Campin (c. 1375 – 26 April 1444), now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle (earlier the Master of the Merode Triptych, before the discovery of three other similar panels), was the first great master of Early Netherlandish paint ...
.He was apprenticed to Campin in 1426. See Friedlænder, 16 In the early to middle 15th century, these three artists were among the first generation of "
Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps. From the last years of the 15th century, its Renaissance spread around Europe. Called the Northern Renaissance because it occurred north of the Italian Renais ...
" painters, and the first northern Europeans to portray members of the middle and upper classes naturalistically rather than in a medieval Christian idealised form. In earlier Netherlandish art the profile view was the dominant mode of representation for the nobles or clergy worthy of portraiture. In works such as ''
Portrait of a Man in a Turban ''Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?)'' (also ''Portrait of a Man in a Turban'' or ''Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban'') is an oil painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, from 1433. The inscription at the top of the panel, ''Al ...
'' (1433), Jan van Eyck broke this tradition and used the three-quarter profile of the face which became the standard in Netherlandish art. Here, van der Weyden utilises the same profile, which better allows him to describe the shape of the head and facial features of the sitter. She is shown in half-length, which enables the artist to show her hands crossed at her waist. Despite this new freedom, van der Weyden's portraits of women are strikingly similar in concept and structure, both to each other and to female portraits by Campin.The similarity between van der Weyden and Campion's female portraits is so strong that they were sometimes misattributed. See Campbell, 19 Most are three-quarter face and half-length. They typically set their models in front of a dark background that is uniform and nondescript. While the portraits are noted for their expressive pathos, the facial features of the women strongly resemble one another. This indicates that although van der Weyden did not adhere to the tradition of idealised representation, he sought to please his sitters in a manner that reflected contemporary ideals of beauty. Most of van der Weyden's portraits were painted as commissions from the nobility; he painted only five (including ''Portrait of a Lady'') that were not
donor portrait A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. ''Donor portrait'' usually refers to the portr ...
s.Portraits were at the time a common means of initiating marriage alliances. Christus, van Eyck and van der Weyden were known to have been employed for this reason. In particular, the extent and level of detail that Christus and van der Weyden undertook to make their subjects appear attractive suggest this was often a primary motive. See Wilson, 47–48 It is known that in his ''
Portrait of Philip de Croÿ A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...
'' (c. 1460), van der Weyden complimented the young Flemish nobleman by concealing his large nose and undershot jaw. When describing this tendency in relation to the Washington portrait, art historian Norbert Schneider wrote, "While van Eyck shows nature 'in the raw', as it were, Rogier improves on physical reality, civilising and refining Nature and the human form with the help of a brush." The high quality of the painting is highlighted when compared to the National Gallery's very similar workshop painting. The London subject has softer, more rounded features and is younger and less individually characterised than the c. 1460 model. The technique also is less subtle and fine in the London work. However, both share a similar expressions and dress. Van der Weyden was more concerned with the aesthetic and emotional response created by the pictures overall than in the specific portraits. Art historian and curator Lorne Campbell suggests that the popularity of the portrait is due more to the "elegant simplicity of the pattern which he sittercreates" than to the grace of her depiction. While van der Weyden did not stay within the traditional realms of idealisation, he created his own aesthetic, which he extended across his portraits and religious pictures. This aesthetic includes the mood of sorrowful devotion which forms the dominant tone in all his portraits. His figures may be more natural than those of earlier generations of artists; however, his individualistic approach to the depiction of his sitters' piety often leads to the abandonment of the rules of scale.Campbell, 28 John Walker, former director of the National Gallery of Art, referred to the subject as "outré", but believed that despite the awkwardness of her individual features, the model was nonetheless "strangely beautiful".Walker, 126 By the time of the work's completion van der Weyden had eclipsed even van Eyck in popularity, and this painting is typical of the austere spirituality, over the latter's sensuality, for which van der Weyden is renowned.


Condition and provenance

Although van der Weyden did not title the work, and the sitter's name is not recorded in any of the early inventories,Kleiner, Fred. "Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective". Wadsworth Publishing, 2009. the style of her dress has been used to place the picture very late in van der Weyden's career. The c. 1460 dating is based on the high-fashion dress and the work's apparent chronological position in the evolution of van der Weyden's style.Campbell, 102 However, it is possible that it was executed even later (van der Weyden died in 1464). ''Portrait of a Lady '' was painted on a single oak board with a vertical grain and has an unpainted margin on each side. The panel was prepared with
gesso Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...
, upon which the figure was then painted in monochrome. Glazes of oil pigment were then added, which allowed for subtle and transparent tonal gradations.Walker, 126
Infra-red reflectography Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
reveals that van der Weyden did not sketch the work on the board before he began to paint, and there is no evidence of
underdrawing Underdrawing is a preparatory drawing done on a painting ground before paint is applied, for example, an imprimatura or an underpainting. Underdrawing was used extensively by 15th century painters like Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. These ...
. It shows that the lady was portrayed as more slender before changes were made as the work progressed; thickly applied background paint underlies some of the belt, demonstrating that the original silhouette was widened. These changes are also visible in
x-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10  picometers to 10  nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
images. It is in relatively good condition, having been cleaned a number of times, most recently in 1980. There is some loss of paint on the veil, headdress and sleeve, and abrasion on the ear.Conservation Notes
. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
The
provenance Provenance (from the French ''provenir'', 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses i ...
of the painting is unclear, and there is doubt as to which painting is referred to in some early inventories. An
Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
prince, likely Leopold Friedrich Franz (d. 1817) of
Wörlitz is a town and a former municipality in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it has been part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, east of Dessau. The historic p ...
, near
Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
, Germany, held it in the early 19th century,Portraits in the Anhalt collection were generally poorly catalogued in early inventories after which it is likely to have passed to Leopold Friedrich (d. 1871). The painting was loaned for exhibition in 1902, when it was shown at the Hôtel de Gouvernement Provincial,
Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...
at the '' Exposition des primitifs flamands et d'art ancien''.Exhibition History
. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
It was held by a Duke of Anhalt until 1926 when he sold it to the art dealers
Duveen Brothers Henry Joseph Duveen (26 October 1854Bierman, Stanley M. ''The World's Greatest Stamp Collectors''. New York: Frederick Fell Publishers Inc., 1981, p. 90. – 15 January 1919) was an art dealer who co-founded the firm of Duveen Brothers with his ...
. They in turn sold it that year to
Andrew W. Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), sometimes A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. From the wealthy Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylv ...
. It was loaned the following year to the
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
, London, for an exhibition covering six centuries of Flemish and Belgian art. Mellon willed the work to his Educational and Charitable Trust in 1932, which in 1937 donated it to the
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
where it is on permanent display.


Gallery

File:Robert Campin 012.jpg,
Robert Campin Robert Campin (c. 1375 – 26 April 1444), now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle (earlier the Master of the Merode Triptych, before the discovery of three other similar panels), was the first great master of Early Netherlandish paint ...
(c. 1375 – 1444), ''Portrait of a Young Woman'', 1430–1435,
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
, London. Van der Weyden's style was founded on the work of the older master. File:Rogier van der Weyden- Seven Sacraments Altarpiece - Baptism, Confirmation, and Penance; detail, baptism.jpg, Rogier van der Weyden, ''
Seven Sacraments Altarpiece The ''Seven Sacraments Altarpiece'' is a fixed-wing triptych by the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden and his workshop. It was painted from 1445 to 1450, probably for a church in Poligny ( Max J. Friedländer claimed that it was co ...
'', detail, 1445–1450, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten,
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
. This formal, group work shows high-ranking women dressed in the contemporary fashion of high—here divided—hennin and v shaped neck-lines. File:Petrus Christus - Portrait of a Young Woman - Google Art Project.jpg,
Petrus Christus Petrus Christus (; 1410/1420 – 1475/1476) was an Early Netherlandish painter active in Bruges from 1444, where, along with Hans Memling, he became the leading painter after the death of Jan van Eyck. He was influenced by van Eyck and Rogier va ...
' '' Portrait of a Young Girl'', after 1460,
Berlin State Museums The Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters, several research institutes, libraries, and supporting facilities. They are overseen ...
. Similarity can be seen in the sculpted features and expression of the model. File:Portrait of an Old Woman Hans Memling.jpg,
Hans Memling Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...
, '' Portrait of an Elderly Woman'' c. 1470.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...
, Texas. Memling was a follower of van der Weyden and utilised his distortion of natural representation to depict ideals of beauty. File:Paolo Ucello 001.jpg, ''A Young Lady of Fashion'' is attributed to the Florentine painter and mathematician
Paolo Uccello Paolo Uccello ( , ; 1397 – 10 December 1475), born Paolo di Dono, was an Italians, Italian (Florentine) Florentine painting, painter and mathematician who was notable for his pioneering work on visual Perspective (graphical), perspective in art. ...
and dates early 1460s. The young lady has plucked her hairline to increase the expanse, and thus elegance, of her forehead, and a lock of hair falls at the back in a ponytail. A tight-fitting cap covers her ears, a fashion possibly due to the prevalent belief of the time that the Virgin Mary conceived through the ear.Brown pp. 67, 112


See also

*
List of works by Rogier van der Weyden Most of the works of Rogier van der Weyden consist of triptychs, diptychs or polyptychs, each including more than one panel. Some are dismembered and the parts are kept in different museums. Some panels are only fragmentary remains. This list fea ...
* 1400–1500 in fashion


References


Notes


Sources


Bibliography

* Brown, David Alan (2003). ''Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women''. Princeton University Press. * Campbell Lorne, Foister, S, Roy. A. "Early Northern European Painting". ''National Gallery Technical Bulletin'', volume 18, 1997 * Campbell, Lorne. ''The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools''. London: National Gallery Publications, 1998. '' * Campbell, Lorne. ''Van der Weyden''. London: Chaucer Press, 2004. * Campbell, Lorne and Van der Stock, Jan. (ed.) ''Rogier van der Weyden: 1400–1464. Master of Passions''. Leuven: Davidsfonds, 2009. * De Vos, Dirk. ''Rogier van der Weyden: The Complete Works''. Harry N Abrams, 2000. * Friedlænder, Max J. "Landscape, Portrait, Still-Life: Their Origin and Development". New York: Schocken Books, 1963 * Grössinger, Christa. ''Picturing women in late Medieval and Renaissance art''. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997. * Hand, John Oliver and Wolff, Martha. ''Early Netherlandish Painting''. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1986. * Kemperdick, Stephan. ''The Early Portrait, from the Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein and the Kunstmuseum Basel''. Munich: Prestel, 2006. * Kleiner, Fred S. ''Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective''. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing, 2009. * Monro, Isabel Stevenson and Monro, Kate M. ''Index to Reproductions of European Paintings: A Guide to Pictures in More Than Three Hundred Books''. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1956. * Panofsky, Irwin. ''Early Netherlandish Painting: v. 1''. Westview Press, 1971 (new edition). * Scott, Margaret. ''The History of Dress: Late Gothic Europe, 1400–1500''. London: Humanities Press, 1980. * Schneider, Norbert. ''The Art of the Portrait: Masterpieces of European Portrait-Painting, 1420–1670''. Taschen GmbH, 2002. * Smith, Jeffrey. ''The Northern Renaissance''. London: Phaidon, 2004. * Van Der Elst, Joseph. ''The Last Flowering of the Middle Ages''. Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 1944. * Walker, John. ''National Gallery of Art, Washington''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1975. * Wilson, Jean. ''Painting in Bruges at the Close of the Middle Ages: Studies in Society and Visual Culture''. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998.


External links


''Portrait of a Lady''
at the National Gallery of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait Of A Lady (Van Der Weyden) 1460s paintings 15th-century portraits Paintings in the National Gallery of Art Paintings by Rogier van der Weyden Lady (Van Der Weyden)