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The elegantly dressed woman holding a wreath of flowers, shown three-quarter length before a plain, dark background, is Ebba Sparre (1626-1662), lady-in-waiting to Queen Christina of Sweden. She was one of the queen's favourites, her closest friend. Sébastien Bourdon painted the portrait while he was in Stockholm as First Painter to the Queen from 1652 until Christina's abdication in 1654.
The painting is in a poor state of preservation, it was originally a much more sumptuous image.
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