Portrait of a Young Woman with braided hair

This 1497 portrait of a young woman with braided hair, in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, demonstrates Dürer's early mastery of female portraiture. The elaborate hairstyle documents the fashions of late 15th-century Nuremberg, while the psychological characterization goes beyond mere costume study Albrecht Dürer brought Italian Renaissance ideas north, combining German Gothic tradition with classical proportions to become the dominant artist in the German-speaking world.

The braided hair is rendered with extraordinary precision, each strand individually described. The face is modeled with subtle tonal gradations that give the features three-dimensional presence against the dark background.