As usual with Palamedesz’s individual portraits, the subject of this painting stands out against an undefined, greyish background. The as yet unidentified 17-year-old woman is depicted three-quarter length and holds a fan in her right hand. Although her dress is relatively sober, the strings of pearls around her neck and in her hair, and the dense design of the lace of her collar and cuffs, indicate wealth.2 Whether this portrait had a pendant is uncertain. Palamedesz produced some of his best portraits in the mid-1650s.3 The present portrait lacks the elegance of some of the artist’s other works from this period, and it makes a rather flat impression, but account must be taken of the fact that its appearance is severely marred by a discoloured varnish layer. Gerdien Wuestman, 2007 See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 230.