Portrait of an Elderly Woman

Portrait of an Old Woman is a small oil on wood panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling, completed c 1475–80, and in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, since 1944.

The woman's face and headdress dominate the remaining pictorial space; they create a strong contrast between her cream headgear and the black background and the lower portion of the painting, which was originally bluish-green, but has darkened with age and accumulated dirt.

The panel is noted for its dramatic contrasts in light and colour, and its subtle treatment of skin tones, which are comparable to Memling's c. 1472 Portrait of Maria Portinari in New York.

It is probably thus related to the Portrait of an Elderly Man now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

That reasoning for the two paintings commission is unknown, but it is likely they were intended as donor portraits for a larger work.