This portrait of a woman seems to be slightly vacant, with an air of purity.

The face is painted with Vermeer's subtlety and delicacy, the composition enhanced by the opposite diagonals of her headpiece down and right, with her collar making the other diagonal. The dress and the arm are painted with considerable impressionistic softness, the arm and hand even more so, perhaps even clumsy.

It is assumed that this painting may be a portrait of Vermeer's eldest daughter, Maria, also called Maertge.