2-999-675 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Margherita, Wife of Baldassare Vandergoes, 1655-60. The rich attire of this woman, complete with elaborate jewels and a delicate pocket watch at her waist, declares her privileged social status as do her fan and gesture of lifting her skirts off the dirty pavement. She can be identified as Margherita, wife of the Flemish merchant Baldassare Vandergoes (Baltasar van der Goes). While known documents do not identify her family with certainty, it is clear that she is the daughter of a properous local family.