Portrait of a Woman, Probably Susanna Lunden by Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens painted this intimate portrait of his sister-in-law, Susanna Fourment, around 1625. It now hangs in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was the younger sister of his first wife, Isabella Brant, and later married a prominent Antwerp silk merchant. This is not a commissioned portrait of an aristocrat; it is a personal study of a woman the artist knew well.

Let your eye settle on her face. Her gaze is direct and disarmingly candid, and her lips are not set in a formal line but seem caught in a fleeting, unguarded moment. The dramatic black hat and veil frame her fair skin, but look closer beneath the brim and you will find a delicate gold lace cap glowing in the shadows, a quiet signal of wealth and refinement.

Rubens, the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque, was also a knighted diplomat who moved through the courts of Europe. Yet here, with his own family as subject, he achieves something warm and immediate. The painting feels less like a state portrait and more like a moment of life that he chose to preserve in oil.

What do you read in her expression? The slight asymmetry of her gaze leaves the question of her exact mood beautifully open.