A young woman turns her head gently over her left shoulder, meeting the viewer's gaze with a calm and ambiguous expression. Her skin is rendered with a soft, luminous quality, and her face appears wide and flat, with a small nose, thin lips, and widely spaced eyes. She wears a pearl earring that catches the light, and a pale scarf draped loosely over her shoulders, its folds painted with subtle gradations of white and blue-grey.

A long, golden veil falls from the crown of her head, trailing down her back and standing out against the deep black background. Vermeer sets the figure against a plain, dark void, isolating her and heightening the sense of intimacy and vulnerability. The light falls from the left, illuminating the right side of her face and the drapery, while the left side of her head and body recede into shadow.

The brushwork is delicate and smooth, especially in the modeling of the face and the shimmering highlights on the fabric and earring. No other objects or figures appear in the composition, focusing all attention on the sitter's features and the play of light across her form. The edge of the scarf at the lower right is painted with a crisp, cool blue shadow that contrasts with the warmer tones of the illuminated folds.

Fine craquelure is visible across the surface of the painting, especially on the woman's forehead and cheek, revealing the texture of the aged paint. The transition between the figure and the background is sharply defined along the right edge of her veil, where the light fabric stands out against the deep black void. Study of a Young Woman is painted by Johannes Vermeer around 1665–67, during the period of the Dutch Golden Age painting movement. The subject is not an individual portrait but a 'tronie,' a type of study valued in seventeenth-century Dutch art for its expressive character and unusual costume.