Portrait of a gentleman, three-quarter-length, in purple robes, his right hand resting on an open book on a draped table, with a green curtain and a garden terrace beyond

Aleijda Wolfsen was born in Zwolle, where her father served as the city's mayor. By 1657, the family had moved to The Hague, where Wolfsen became a pupil and friend of Caspar Netscher (1639-1684), whose influence is palpable in her portraits. During her lifetime she was widely known and respected as a painter, and is recorded as having painted William III of England in 1674. Jacob Campo Weyerman included her biography in his four-part series on the lives of Dutch painters and paintresses (De levens-beschryvingen der Nederlandsche konst-schilders en konst-schilderessen, 1729-39), giving her the sobriquet 'Penseel-Prinses' (brush princess).

We are grateful to Dr. Marjorie E. Wieseman for endorsing the attribution to Wolfsen on the basis of photographs. Dr Wieseman has also identified this painting as an autograph variant of Wolfsen's portrait of the same unidentified sitter, now in the Museo Municipal de Vigo 'Quiñones de León' (inv. no. 725; written communication, April 2026). The two pictures are not identical, however: Wolfsen made some alterations here, including the color of the sitter's robes, the arrangement of the green curtain, and the details of the sculpted relief at left.