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A Female Head

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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A young woman with brown hair and plucked eyebrows gazes modestly downward. Her hairstyle is Italianate: her plaits are wound around the top of her head and are entwined with a semi-transparent scarf that falls across her right shoulder. She wears a semi-transparent ruched chemise and a blue overdress trimmed with brown fur. Behind her is a green textile, with patterns in pale yellow, probably intended to represent threads of gold. She is possibly the Virgin Mary: she very closely resembles the Virgin in the Adoration of the Kings (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), also attributed to the Master of the Female Half-Lengths, and in his The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, also in our collection. Very large numbers of paintings are attributed to the Master, but this one was probably by the artist himself.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Female Head

Date

about 1525-50

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 26 x W 18.7 cm

Accession number

NG721

Acquisition method

Presented by Queen Victoria at the Prince Consort's wish, 1863

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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