Young Woman in Profile

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

National Gallery of Art

Lightly sketched with faint, silvery gray lines and areas of white chalk against tan-colored paper, the face, shoulder, and one arm of a young woman with smooth skin looks over her shoulder to our right in profile in this vertical drawing. She looks up through her eyelashes with her head tipped slightly away from us. She has a straight nose and parted, full lips. Wavy lines suggest hair framing her face and falling to her shoulders. Her hair may be tied with a ribbon that lies over her left shoulder, farther from us. A few strokes in white chalk suggest a puffed sleeve over that shoulder. The sleeve, drawn lightly with black chalk, is rolled back to her elbow, and her hand rests in front of her chest over a curve, though the object on which her fingers rest is not drawn. The paper has a few spots, marks, and small stains.