Yellow. This painting is covered in a yellow tone, suggesting that the varnish is aged and decaying. Varnish is a clear coating typically brushed over a dry painting to saturate and protect the paint layer. Here, the varnish was made from a tree resin that becomes yellow and brittle with age.

Floating head. The young girl’s head is more crisply rendered than her body and sits quite high above it, separated from it by her ruff.