Here Picasso reinterprets a painting by the 16-century artist Luca Cranach the Younger; part of its attraction seems to have been the elaborateness of the woman's costume, the rich fabrics and the lavish ornaments. Almost inevitably, the rather stuffy dignity of the subject undergoes a transformation at Picasso's hands. His version is a gaudy and nervous one in which he once more depicts the human face in neatly integrated frontal and profile views; among other things, this enables the spectator to focus on the face in two different ways and perceive two different expressions on it.
The quality of this work, apparently 'crude' yet bursting with energy, oews a good deal to the linocut technique which Picasso used to make it - just one more example of his urge to experiment which, even at the age of 77, remained as powerful as ever.
