The Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens, is one of the most touching child portraits in the history of European art. It shows Rubens's five-year-old daughter from his marriage to Isabella Brant. Her resemblance to her mother is clear. The disarming directness with which the child looks at the viewer is not typical of contemporary portrait painting, but expresses the intimate relationship between father and daughter. Rubens uses color with great skill to capture her face. The warm coloring of the flesh tones makes a particular impact against the gray-green ground and the child's clothing. The strong red of the cheeks and the highlights on her nose and forehead convey an impression of intense life. The painting is trimmed on all four sides, and looks incomplete at first because the clothing is hastily painted. Detailed work on these parts, however, cannot have been his intention as the portrait was probably destined for private use and not for sale. Rubens obviously concentrated on the key aspect of the portrayal, his daughter's face. (http://www.liechtensteinmuseum.at)