This splendid mid-17th-century half-length portrait attributed to Flemish artist, Jacob Huysmans (c.1630-1696) depicts a lady wearing a brown and ivory dress decorated with pearls, together with a pearl necklace and earrings. It’s presented in a decorative cartouche.Deliberately nonchalant and somewhat seductive, she rests her right arm upon her cheek, which draws attention to her alluring eyes. Her hair, a work of art in itself, is ornately worn in numerous curls - one of which is draped over her left shoulder. Her pose is inspired by the numerous portraits by Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) depicting Charles II’s court beauty, Barbara Villiers (1640-1709), the Duchess of Cleveland.As you can imagine, the depiction of her resting an arm and looking directly at the viewer with a longing expression, captured the minds of admirers. This, in turn, led to numerous portraits of a similar nature, as we see here. This particular piece is rendered with great skill and is characteristic of H...