Portrait of a Deceased Girl, probably Catharina Margaretha van Valkenburg
Johannes Thopas
1682
It looks as if the beautiful girl lying so peacefully is asleep. But she will never wake up again, as she has passed away. Her parents had her likeness painted by Thopas, whose other known works are all portrait drawings. This sad painting is one of the most beautiful and intimate deathbed portraits of a child. It remained in her family’s possession for over 300 years.
oil on panel
59 x 71 cm.
Loan Friends of the Mauritshuis Foundation, 2008