Though the identity of the girl is uncertain, it is thought she was a family servant. Some find this questionable in view of the gold chains around the model’s neck and view it as more likely to be a tronie, or figure study, showing a stock character in costume. Originally rectangular in format, this painting was most likely cut down and given an arched top at the end of the seventeenth century. During the recent conservation of the painting, the discoloured varnish was carefully removed, revealing an astonishingly bold mixture of colours in the model's face that would not seem out of place in a twenty-first century portrait. Cleaning also permitted a clearer appreciation of Rembrandt's confident sweeps of the brush and thickly applied 'impasto' paint. __________ Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 – 1669) painter and etcher of the Dutch Golden Age. One of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. Dulwich Picture Gallery, London