Few portraits by Peter Paul Rubens have sparked as much speculation as Portrait of Susanna Lunden, painted around 1622. For centuries, viewers and scholars have debated the sitter’s true identity, with the most widely accepted theory naming her as Susanna Fourment, the sister-in-law of Rubens himself. The painting is sometimes called Le Chapeau de Paille—the Straw Hat—though, in a twist of art history, her hat is actually felt, not straw.

This misnaming began with the 18th-century French engraver, Jean-Baptiste Massard, whose print popularized the error and helped cement the painting’s fame. Rubens captures Susanna at a moment of poised self-awareness, her gaze meeting the viewer’s with a directness unusual for women’s portraits of the era. The light falls gently on her face and the elaborate felt hat, casting a luminous glow that highlights her youthful skin and the intricate lace collar. The gold chain draped across her chest signals both wealth and family pride, while her slightly parted lips and open expression suggest a sense of immediacy and life.

Unlike the more formal, static portraits of contemporaries like Anthony van Dyck, Rubens infuses this image with warmth and informality, making the sitter feel present and approachable. The early history of Portrait of Susanna Lunden is not fully documented, but it is believed to have remained in private hands until the 18th century, when it entered the collection of the Duke of Westminster. Its attribution to Rubens has never been seriously questioned, though its precise date and the identity of the sitter have been debated. Today, the painting resides in the National Gallery, London, where it stands as a testament to Rubens’s gift for combining psychological insight with painterly brilliance during the height of the Baroque period.