It's all in the title really. You are looking at Catharina van Hemessen, the first artist to paint herself with an easel in 1548. She added "ego Catharina van Hemessen me pinxit" (I, CvH, painted myself) and put herself in front of her easel, painting herself in the painting, so that no one would say someone else did it and she only signed her name, a common problem for women at the time. Doing this, she effectively produced the first self-portrait of an artist at work, a theme that has been reused since then.
The Renaissance also paid quite a lot of attention to textures, and you can see how well the velvet is rendered.
The Renaissance also paid quite a lot of attention to textures, and you can see how well the velvet is rendered.