  About the Artwork
  
  
  Although Hans Holbein the Younger was a German painter, he spent little time in his homeland after commissions for paintings, religious and otherwise, became scarce in Protestant Germany. He settled permanently in London in 1532, and, as court painter during the reign of Henry VIII, specialized in portraying royalty and landed gentry. 
 
The English style of clothing suggests that Holbein painted this thoughtful portrait of a gentlewoman during the 1530s. The painting is startlingly plain, without informative attributes that might identify the sitter. The artist has concentrated on the woman’s personality as expressed in carriage and demeanor, thereby underscoring inner qualities rather than superficial ones.
  
  
  Title
  Portrait of a Woman
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1532 and 1534
  
  Artist
  Hans Holbein the Younger
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1497-1543
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  German
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Tempera and oil on oak panel
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 9 1/8 × 7 1/2 inches (23.2 × 19.1 cm)
  Framed: 15 5/8 × 13 5/8 × 1 1/2 inches (39.7 × 34.6 × 3.8 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Bequest of Eleanor Clay Ford
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  77.81
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
