Page 67 - B-ALL#39 ENGLISH

Each one portrayed was, of course eager for this memory to be the most representative of his beauty or his authority.
The «Portrait of a Young Girl» circa 1470, by Petrus Christus, captures the ephemeral and pure essence of the young lady ready to be married in all her fragility on the border between childhood and the woman in the making. Her slightly sulky look, her sidelong glance, her so small build recall her mistrust of this adult world which forces her to grow up while her finery, from the head dress to the precious necklace that adorns her slender neck, gives her already a rank to hold as the wife of a man of power.
It is fascinating to see that each portrait projects a desire for light around themes as different as love, ambition, family, scholarship or faith.
Sofonisba Anguissola, Zelfportret aan de schildersezel, ca. 1556–1557. ŁaŃcut, Muzeum-Zamek w ŁaŃcucie