Title: Young Woman

Artist: Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) (Spanish, Seville 1599–1660 Madrid)

Date: ca. 1650

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 25 5/8 × 20 1/8 in. (65 × 51 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Private collection

Although listed as "portrait of a maidservant, original by Diego Velázquez" in a 1677 inventory of the Spanish viceroy Gaspar de Haro, this painting is more a study than a finished likeness. The canvas may date to the artist's second trip to Italy, but the country lass—clad in a white kerchief and a heavy coat merely outlined in quick strokes—is painted in a more fluid and rugged manner than Velázquez's other works from that period. Some scholars suggest that the artist may have considered the technique appropriate to his subject, but the quick and direct method of painting may also be a consequence of the short duration of a single session.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/662706