This unknown Italian sitter wears a rich green gown with voluminous sleeves and separate slashed sleeves of white silk. Italy was Europe’s leading producer of the highest quality silks during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries – in fact silks from Italy were the second most important import into England after wine. Blackwork embroidery of this type was popular in countries across Europe at around this date. Technical analysis has demonstrated that the sitter’s collar was originally depicted fastened at the centre front, rather than the more informal final effect seen here.