Portrait of a woman in a white chemise and headdress

This head study is a contemporary copy of a work by Frans Floris in the Museum Foundation Hannema-de Stuers, Heino (C. van de Velde, Frans Floris (1519/20-1570): leven en werken, I, p. 296, fig. 79). Carl van de Velde knows of two other versions of this portrait, to which this painting can be added: one in an unknown private collection and the other, a drawing in the Berlin Print Room. The present painting is, in his opinion, the highest in quality of these works, and is likely to have been produced in the artist's studio.
We are grateful to Carl van de Velde for his assistance in cataloguing this lot, based on a transparency (written communication, 22 January 2007).