Portrait of a lady, bust-length, in a black fur-lined coat with gold fittings, a gold necklace and a white cap

We are grateful to Prof. Koenraad Jonckheere for confirming the attribution to Frans Pourbus the Elder, on the basis of photographs, and for placing it early within the painter's oeuvre. Pourbus is known to have trained with his father Pieter and later in the studio of Frans Floris. The rather unusual white band around the sitter’s collar, which seems to be attached to her headdress, can also be found on an engraving by Johannes Wierix of Volcxken Diericx, dated 1579 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum).