This painting belongs to the type of representative portrait developed by Mierevelt -restrained, highly detailed compositions focused on carefully reproducing faces and the garments that denote the sitters` social status. Analysis of the micro-samples taken from the background shows that the pigments were applied over a reddish grey-brown imprimatura layer. As is characteristic of Mierevelt’s portraits, the smooth, uniform brushwork in the face and hair contrasts with the loose strokes and heavy impastos that highlight the adornments on the clothing and the jewellery. The painting is stylistically consistent with the inscribed date, 1620. It was thus produced during the most successful period in Mierevelt`s career.

In the early 1930s the work is recorded in the collection of family portraits of Baron van Aerssen Beijeren, then the Dutch consul in Seville. It is identified as a portrait of Elisabeth van Bronckhorst and as pendant to the P02977, supposedly a portrait of Elisabeth`s husband, Willem van Beijeren van Schagen. This identification, echoed by the Prado catalogue of 1996, was based on the coat of arms of the Van Bronckhorst family in the upper left area of the panel. Analysis of the micro-samples taken from the crest does not reveal the presence of varnish between the background and the emblem; however, it shows that the thickness of the red layer (vermilion) is uneven and greater than that of the underlying layers. The coat of arms may therefore be a later addition made to forcibly identify the sitter.

Whatever the case, this identification is incorrect, as the period when Elisabeth van Bronckhorst was alive (1551-1596) does not tally with the date inscribed on the portrait. This date is, however, consonant with the style of dress, the sumptuous collar of bobbin lace and the adornments of the gown, which are characteristic of the fashions of around 1620. This type of collar is found only in another two portraits by Mierevelt, one of which is dated 1620. The sitter may therefore be Theodora van Duvenvoorde (ca. 1577-1660), the wife of Albrecht van Beijeren van Schagen, Elisabeth van Bronckhorst`s grandson (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, 2009, p. 306).