Swabian, Portrait of a Woman of the Hofer Family

This woman’s large white headdress, its calligraphic shape made up of stiff angular folds, is striking against the dark background. The bold visual effect of this almost sculptural item of clothing belies the care the artist has taken to describe the details of its construction. The border covering the woman’s forehead is made up of a series of parallel folds, or tucks, giving this area a ribbed texture; the edges are stitched and it is held in place at her hairline with pins, the indentations of which are visible. Shading around the folds reinforces the sense of their depth. The artist seems to want us to think that a fly, deceived by his illusion, has attempted to land on the headdress. The insect is, of course, also part of the deception and perhaps intended to reinforce the artist’s mastery.

The wall-hanging in the background is also not as simple as it first appears. It is perhaps intended to resemble a woven silk, its pattern of foliage and flowers made up of fibres of a subtly different shade of blue to the rest of it. As the white headdress curls over the woman’s shoulder, it differentiates her dress from the hanging, which is made of a similar fabric. Her understated and elegant costume, with its white fur trim and gold fastenings, dates to about 1470.

With slim fingers she gestures towards a sprig of forget-me-nots. The flowers were sometimes a symbol of marriage, so she may have been portrayed to commemorate an engagement, but they also refer to remembrance. Perhaps they are an invitation to remember the sitter through this portrait when absent, or even after her death. As flies could spread disease and were sometimes seen as a symbol of sinfulness, its presence might be intended to ward against evil and illness.

The inscription at the top of the painting reads: GEBORNE HOFERIN. This means that the woman is from the Hofer family, but as this was a common surname in southern Germany at the time it doesn't help to identify her.