Who painted Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair?

Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair was painted by Albrecht Dürer in 1499.

Where can I see Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair?

Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair is held by Gemäldegalerie Berlin.

What movement is Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair?

Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair is associated with Northern Renaissance.

Can I buy a print of Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair?

Museum-quality prints of Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair are available made-to-order from Artifact World Gallery.

Artwork

Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair

Albrecht Dürer , 1499

Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair is a paint painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. It dates from 1499 and is held in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Berlin.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

She holds a sprig of Eryngium, a flower long associated with marital fidelity, reinforcing the iconographic reading of her impending betrothal.

The portrait depicts Katharina Fürleger, one of two sisters portrayed in 1497, presented as a woman on the verge of marriage. She is shown seated near a window, her arms resting on a parapet in the Flemish manner, with an elaborate hairstyle of braided hair coiled at the nape of her neck. She holds a sprig of Eryngium, a flower long associated with marital fidelity, reinforcing the iconographic reading of her impending betrothal. The composition’s details, her refined attire, the landscape glimpsed through the window, and the window itself, frame her social status and imminent transition into domestic life.

Technique & Style

The painting is executed in oil on wood panel, measuring 56.5 cm in height by 42.5 cm in width. Dürer’s handling emphasizes fine, descriptive detail and smooth transitions, particularly in the rendering of the sitter’s elaborate braided coiffure and the lustrous fabrics of her attire. The composition is anchored by a restrained yet luminous palette, with subtle chromatic contrasts used to differentiate the two Fürleger sisters’ respective paths: the gathered hair and betrothal symbolism here are set against a calm, neutral background that directs attention to the figure’s poised demeanor and symbolic attributes, such as the eryngo bloom held in hand. The integration of a Flemish-inspired parapet and distant landscape through a window underscores the artist’s engagement with Northern Renaissance conventions of spatial recession and material realism.

History & Provenance

Created in 1497, the Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair was commissioned by the Fürleger family of Nuremberg. Albrecht Dürer painted this work alongside a companion portrait of the sitter's sister, depicting both women at pivotal moments before marriage: one preparing for religious life and the other for wedlock. Although the two panels share identical dimensions, they were likely never intended as a diptych due to differences in their backgrounds. The painting is signed with the artist's monogram and features the sitter, identified as Katharina, holding a flower symbolizing marital fidelity. The work is currently held in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

The painting is held in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Dated to 1497, the work was commissioned as one of two portraits depicting the Fürleger sisters, specifically identified as Katharina. It bears the artist's monogram and is historically paired with a companion portrait of a sister with loose hair, which is located at the Städel Institute in Frankfurt. While the pair shares similar dimensions and commission context, they are likely not a formal diptych due to differences in their backgrounds. The Berlin panel depicts the subject seated near a window with her arms resting on a parapet, holding a flower symbolizing marital fidelity.

Context

The pair of portraits of the Fürleger sisters (1497) occupies a transitional moment in Dürer’s early career, when commissions from Nuremberg’s aristocracy consolidated his reputation after his 1496 portrait of Frederick the Wise. Executed within a year of each other and closely matched in dimensions, the two panels diverge in iconography rather than format: the “braided hair” portrait (Katharina) signals a secular life through a rich costume and a sprig of eryngo held as a token of marital fidelity, while its pendant’s religious emblem identifies the sitter as a novice.

Scholarly discussions emphasize Dürer’s ability to encode divergent life paths through chromatic contrast and gesture, aligning the series with northern European portrait conventions that fused realism with emblematic meaning. The works’ pairing and their Flemish-inspired parapet format underscore the period’s cross-regional exchange, situating Dürer within the broader German Renaissance milieu rather than isolating him within a single local tradition.