Portrait of girl

Unknown 1627

Nordiska Museet
Stockholm, Sweden

Full-length portrait of a girl, four years old, wearing a black low-cut, richly gold-embroidered dress with double sleeves. Lace ruff, lace decoration around the neck and wrists, hair pinned up and open crown. In her left hand, a fan of red plumes in a silver handle; in her right hand white gloves. Inscription “CHRISTINA AET SUAE ANO 1632”.

Details

Title: Portrait of girl
Creator: Unknown
Date Created: 1627
Physical Dimensions: w84 x h142 cm
More Information: During the seventeenth century, it was primarily the higher social classes that had portraits commissioned, but portraits became increasingly common among other groups as prosperity increased during Sweden's time as a great power. This girl's high status is marked by the crown on her head, the expensive dress and the jewellery she is wearing. The painting shows the conventional way in which girls were depicted in the early 1600s, full-length in ankle-length dress, turned slightly to the side against a backdrop of heavy falling drapery. The girl is wearing a necklace and bracelets of pearls – the latter worn in pairs according to the fashion of the time – and her hands are holding her gloves and a feather fan. The tiled floor facilitated the introduction of perspective into the painting and made it possible to mark the depth of the room. Based on the inscription on the portrait, it was previously assumed that the portrait was of Queen Kristina of Sweden, for which artist Cornelius Arendtz received 20 crowns in payment in 1632. Today, this attribution is hotly debated, as restoration has shown that the painting was reworked afterwards and the original year of 1627 in the inscription had been changed to 1632. The crown appears to be original, however, and of the royal children depicted at the end of the 16th and start of the 17th century, only Kristina would have worn a crown. Kristina was born in 1626 as the only child of King Gustav II Adolf. She became queen shortly before her sixth birthday in 1632. If the portrait truly depicts Kristina, it is the only known portrait of her completed before her father, King Gustav II Adolf's, death. Unknown artist, possibly Cornelius Arendtz.
Type: Painting
Rights: Photo: Bertil Wreting, ©Nordiska museet
External Link: http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/portrtt/S-NM/NM.0077239

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