The “Portrait of an Elderly Woman” by the famous Flemish painter Hans Memling strikes with the amazing realism of the image of the model’s face, which makes it possible to judge her age, to suggest certain features of her character and worldview. The artist does not set the task of flattering this woman, he truthfully conveys her tightly compressed, almost colorless lips, pale fading skin, does not try to set off her eyes. His model itself does not care about this.

Her whole strictly concentrated appearance, her impenetrable expression, the fixed look of her cold eyes betray concerns of a different plane. Her thoughts are not looking for external attractiveness, but spiritual purity, aimed at internal perfection. An interesting compositional technique in building a background for a portrait.

To the right of the woman’s high white headdress, Memling makes the background deaf and dark, against which this interesting accessory of her costume stands out especially effectively. To the left of the image, he writes a landscape background that enlivens the composition, gives depth to the space of the picture and tells the viewer additional details about the environment in which the heroine exists. Initially, this portrait was paired with the “Portrait of an Old Man”, now in another collection (Berlin State Museum). “Portrait of an elderly woman”, having changed several owners, ended up in the Louvre in 1908.