The overall composition conforms to the type of portrait prevailing in Europe in the second half of the 16th century. The arrangement of the figure, slightly turned to the left in order to avoid a rigid frontality; the strong lighting that models the face and hands; the way in which the hands are arranged; and the inclusion of a curtain as a decorative element were all formulas created in the mid-16th century and assimilated throughout Europe from the 1560s. The sitter’s clothing and in particular the delicate lace collar, which is high enough to cover almost all of her ear, date this image to around 1585. Nonetheless, the most notable feature of this portrait is the background, which contains a curious pictorial device in the form of part of a fictive canvas almost at the edge of the real one, in which the nails that attach the canvas to the stretcher are partially visible.Tied back at the left edge of this element is a red silk curtain. The result is to give the viewer the sense of looking at an unusual type of trompel’oeil. We are thus not seeing the portrait of a notable female sitter but rather the representation of her portrait, which has been revealed to us by chance when the curtain that covers it is drawn back. Not many compositions of this type have survived and it is difficult to know the reasons for their execution, in addition to which we have no information regarding the sitter’s identity. Serrera drew attention to this example in the Prado and pointed to parallels with various portraits by Scipione Pulzone, in particular Christina of Lorraine in the Galleria degli Uffizi (Florence). He related this type of work to various portraits that were habitually covered by curtains and only uncovered for certain ceremonial events when the sitter was not physically present. Bearing this in mind, Kusche dated the image to around 1578 and identified the sitter as María de Guimarâes, Duchess of Parma, who died in 1577. This choice of a painting of the ‘portrait of a portrait’ type for the deceased sitter would thus be a ‘funerary monument’ for the Duchess.This is an interesting idea but apart from a general physical resemblance, the identification of the sitter is not convincing. For the present author, the portrait features an element that makes this sitter distinctive, as among her jewels there is one that particularly stands out: the enormous ruby hanging from her neck. It is an irregular, pear-shaped stone accompanied by small emeralds that form a stalk with three leaves and is a most unusual item of Renaissance jewellery. It probably represents a vegetable, possibly a small pepper.The latter came from South America and were extremely exotic in Europe at this date, where they were used as ornamental plants in numerous gardens. The painting has been attributed to Juan Pantoja de la Cruz while more recently Kusche has suggested Rolán de Mois. It should, however, be directly related to the work of Pulzone, an artist whose output comes close to that of Antonis Mor both with regard to his compositions and his pictorial treatment, which is highly detailed and realistic. These shared features confirm the closeness of the present work to other portraits by Pulzone, particularly those painted for the Medici Court in Florence. Many of these works use the same visual effect, although emphasised by a larger expanse of the curtain, which the present work must originally have shared, given that it is was cut down on all sides.The figure may originally have been depicted three-quarter length, as in most of Pulzone’s portraits.The existence of a wider replica with slight variations in a private US collection helps to support this hypothesis. (Ruiz Gómez, L. en: El retrato del Renacimiento, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2008, p. 494).