In his 1642 address to the painter’s guild in Leiden, the artist Philips Angel said that the greatest painters could properly distinguish among a range of fabrics. In order to create the dazzling costume worn by this graceful woman, Terborch would have set up a mannequin with satin drapery so that he could closely observe and record every gradation of reflected light. Terborch built up the shimmering fabric with a network of fine flicks and sweeps of the brush, occasionally adding and wiping away tiny bits of paint to make the dress shine.