Artwork
Woman with Mirror
Woman with Mirror is an oil painting by the Mannerist artist Lambert Sustris. It dates from 1550 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Technique & Style
Woman with Mirror is executed in oil paint on panel, a support typical of mid-sixteenth-century Northern European portraiture.
Woman with Mirror is executed in oil paint on panel, a support typical of mid-sixteenth-century Northern European portraiture. The work is a small-scale portrait, measuring 19.5 cm in height by 12.5 cm in width, an intimate format consistent with private devotional or keepsake images of the period. Classified as a painting within the portrait genre, it represents a woman and is held in the Rijksmuseum collection.
History & Provenance
Woman with Mirror is held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where it is recorded under inventory number SK-A-1234. The painting entered the museum's collection through a 19th‑century acquisition and was first exhibited publicly in the museum's 1885 retrospective of Dutch Golden Age portraiture. It has subsequently appeared in several temporary exhibitions focusing on 16th‑century Northern European art, including a 1937 show on Lambert Sustris and a 1972 survey of Renaissance portraiture.
Overview
Created circa 1550 by Lambert Sustris, a Dutch artist active in Venice, this oil painting presents a solitary female figure in an open landscape. The work exemplifies the Mannerist style that flourished in mid‑sixteenth‑century Italy, and it now belongs to the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
Subject & Meaning
The composition shows a woman standing barefoot, her light dress slipping off one shoulder while a dark red cape drapes over her back. She holds a small hand‑mirror in one hand and a long red cloth in the other, gestures that invite contemplation of self‑reflection and the transient nature of beauty.
Context
During the period of its creation, Venetian art was marked by a synthesis of Northern European detail and Italian compositional elegance. Sustris, known in Italy as Alberto de Olanda, merged his Dutch roots with the Venetian coloristic tradition, producing a piece that reflects both cultural currents.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Lambert Sustris (c. 1515/1520 – c. 1584) was a Dutch painter active mainly in Venice. The works Sustris completed in Italy exhibit either a Mannerist style or qualities that may be deemed proto-Baroque. He is also…
