Petronella Melusine von Chesterfield, geb. von der Schulenburg-Hehlen (* 1693, † 1778)

A rather private portrait of a younger woman in non-official dress against a dark background; the sitter seen frontally, her head turned slightly to the right, her gaze again directed frontally towards the viewer, wearing a light, unadorned yellow-brown robe with white lace sleeves and a dark brown border that flares out over the décolleté to form a large bow under which a small, white lace scarf is tied; on the lower left side of the picture, a red fabric that is puffed out in a wrinkled manner.

Hammerschmidt 2001 describes as follows:

"The painted woman shows beautiful regular facial features and has large expressive eyes. The brown hair is cut short and combed back. She wears a simple reddish-brown dress with the neckline edged with a dark brown cord and the ends of the cord tied into a large bow at chest level."

As far as we know today, the paintings from the holdings of Field Marshal Matthias Johann von der Schulenburg were inscribed on the back with the same or almost the same wording as the entries in his inventories. However, these inscriptions may have been at least partially removed during restoration.