The artwork titled “Portrait of a Woman from Brussels,” created in 1520 by Albrecht Dürer, is a fine example of Northern Renaissance art. This genre of the piece is a portrait, which encapsulates the Norther Renaissance’s predilection for meticulous detail and subtle character depiction.
The piece is a drawing with delicate line work that demonstrates Dürer’s precision and attention to the subtleties of the human face. The woman is depicted in three-quarter view, and we can see her gazing calmly toward the left side of the drawing. She is wearing a headdress typical of the period, showing Dürer’s understanding of contemporary fashion and his skill in rendering fabrics and textures. The shading and folds on her garments and headdress demonstrate a high level of detail and anatomical accuracy. On the drawing, near the top-right corner, there are annotations including the year “1520” and Dürer’s monogram, which is a signature seen on many of his works. The expression on the woman’s face displays a calm demeanor and reflects the overall realism that is a hallmark of Dürer’s portraits.
