A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools / Including by Special Permission Notes Collected from the Works of John Ruskin

by Unknown

1937. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

Bartholomeus van der Helst (Dutch: 1611-1670). See 140.

This picture, said to be a portrait of a lady of the house of Braganza, was formerly in the collection of Mr. Beckford at Fonthill. It is signed, and dated 1645. The "careful finish," which Sir Joshua Reynolds commended in the work of Van der Helst, may be well studied here in the rich and beautiful costume and jewellery.