Portrait of an old lady, half-length, seated in a chair holding her glasses and pointing at a book on a table

This recently rediscovered work is an important addition to the small group of existing portraits by Karel Dujardin. The identity of the sitter is not known, but she must have belonged to Amsterdam's elite, from whom Dujardin received several commissions. The Dutch armchair of heavy sqaure form and with carved lion finials, in which she is seated, is comparable with the one in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and can be dated to the first quarter of the 17th Century.

Dujardin was a leading painter of Italianate landscapes. Beside these, he also painted historical scenes in neo-Classical style and portraits. While in The Netherlands, Dujardin lived in The Hague and Amsterdam. In 1675, he travelled to Italy, where he died in Venice in 1678.