Portrait of a Woman
- Catalog
- WD-D08
- Artist
- Willem Drost
- Year
- c. 1654
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 82 × 65 cm
- Location
- Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
Description
A half-length portrait of an unknown woman, likely of the Dutch burgher class. The painting is housed in the Szépmûvészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts) in Budapest.
Analysis
Listed by the Web Gallery of Art as a Drost work, this portrait's attribution status requires further scholarly evaluation. The handling of the sitter's costume and the warm palette are consistent with Drost's confirmed portraits, but the painting is not included in Bikker's monograph. Further research is needed to determine the strength of the attribution.
Historical Context
The First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–1654) raged during this period, with naval battles at Portland, the Gabbard, and Scheveningen where Admiral Maarten Tromp was killed. The Delft Thunderclap of 1654 devastated the city and killed Carel Fabritius, Rembrandt’s most gifted former pupil. Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated and converted to Catholicism in Rome. Blaise Pascal experienced his conversion to Jansenism. Drost worked independently in Amsterdam, competing in a vibrant art market while Rembrandt began his descent into bankruptcy.