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Lot Essay
The style of the present work, in its loose and free brushwork is to be associated with the work of Jan van Noordt. Compare for instance with the head of Ruth in the picture of Ruth and Boas, sold at the Butôt, Sale, Sotheby's Amsterdam, 16 November 1993, lot 91, ill. (W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt Schler, 1994, VI, n0 2399).
Sketches such as the present one are rare in painting of the 17th century. They were probably executed in the painter's studio from life models. Compare also with the portrait of a young woman, formerly attributed to Jan de Bray, in the Museum voor Beeldende Kunsten, Ghent (J.W. Moltke, "Jan de Bray", in Marburger Jahrbuch der Kunstwissenschaft, XI/XII, 1938/9, pp. 493/4, n0 F30 fig. 61).
Sketches such as the present one are rare in painting of the 17th century. They were probably executed in the painter's studio from life models. Compare also with the portrait of a young woman, formerly attributed to Jan de Bray, in the Museum voor Beeldende Kunsten, Ghent (J.W. Moltke, "Jan de Bray", in Marburger Jahrbuch der Kunstwissenschaft, XI/XII, 1938/9, pp. 493/4, n