DUTCH SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY

When this painting first appeared at auction in 1996, it was thought to be a work by the Alkmaar-based portraitist, Caesar van Everdingen, and bore an indistinct inscription reading 'Elizabeth Cromwell / [...] der Helst Pinxit'. Both the attribution and identification of the sitter have since come into question. The woman's clothing does provide us with a clue, as her distinctive black bodice, with its voluminous sleeves, and the fine linen collar covering her shoulders are both consistent with those worn in the 1660s.