Studie voor een jonge vrouw

The print displays two distinct character studies. On the lower left, a woman with her hair in a neat bun gazes toward the right edge of the frame. Above her, a figure with windswept hair and an expressive, upward-turned face reaches out an arm, suggesting a state of divine inspiration or emotional intensity.

As a late work by Hendrick Goltzius, this study reflects the Haarlem Mannerist focus on 'naer het leven' (from life) combined with 'uyt den geest' (from the spirit). The upward-reaching figure embodies the Neoplatonic concept of the soul’s aspiration toward higher truths, a recurring theme in the intellectual circles of late 16th and early 17th-century Northern Europe.