Here is a portrait of a small girl in a blue dress painted in 1641 by Johannes Verspronck. At this time, Verspronck was a leading portrait painter in Haarlem. 'Girl Dressed in Blue' is his most famous work and one of the best-loved portraits of a child from the seventeenth century. The girl has been portrayed as a real adult. Only her child-like face betrays the fact that she cannot be more than about ten years old. In those days, young girls were dressed in the same way as their mothers. It is not known who this girl is, although we can be certain she came from a wealthy family. This can be seen from her dress decorated with gold lace, her excessive jewelry and the feather fan she is holding 

Lively Portrait
Verspronck has portrayed the girl with an eye for detail. The many nuances in the tones of the blue material, the delicate lace and the feather fan have been exquisitely rendered. Her face, thin hair, rosy cheeks and bright eyes are extremely lifelike. The lace collar, which here and there curls up, gives aplayful effect. Verspronck brought a tremendous vitality to his portraits in a refined manner. He achieved this by applying subtle nuances to the face: gray transparent dabs of paint in the shadows and blue-gray spots on the nose and lips. 

Light and Shade
The portrait is very softly lit with a diffused light. The shadows are built up from soft, merging grays. The fall of the light in the portrait of the girl is not entirely consistent. The light comes from the left, shining on her dress and face. There would therefore normally be a shadow to her right, yet Verspronck has placed a strong area of light there. This moves the girl away from the background. The painter has been quite free with respect to reality, in order to create a feeling of space in the painting. 

Portrait of a girl dressed in blue can be seen at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. 

Source: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.