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In this exquisite chiaroscuro painting, A young woman holding a distaff before a lit candle [c.1630's.], Flemish painter, Adam de Coster depicts the warm glow of a single flame illuminating a young woman's soft features & her clothes' white/red/black fabric casting vivid shadows. 
In this striking detail, the young woman's illuminated face by a lit candle bring forth her delicate features out of the shadows with her soft crimson lips matching the color of the headdress' stripes.
Adam de Coster-A young woman holding a distaff before a lit candle-c.1630's.
Adam de Coster-A young woman holding a distaff before a lit candle-c.1630's.
In this re-enactment done by Sotheby's, Adam de Coster's striking chiaroscuro "A young woman holding a distaff before a lit candle" [c. 1630's] comes vividly to life:
Adam de Coster was one of the Northern Caravaggisti painters from Antwerp, that is, painters influenced by Caravaggio's chiaroscuro style. This particular painting of a young girl illuminated by candlelight was possibly created in Italy [1630's] using a young Italian model [1]
A candlelight burns from below illuminating two faces: a laughing boy & an older man, the latter looks directly to us after being unmasked from the shadows, the soft flame mirrors in his left iris/pupil, eyes infused w/ melancholia.
Adam de Coster-Man & Boy by Candlelight-1630
Adam de Coster-Man & Boy by Candlelight-1630
The Flemish painter Adam de Coster mainly became famous for his paintings of night-time scenes with figures illuminated by candlelight. In one engraved portrait, he is referred as “Pictor noctium”, i.e. a painter of the nights [1]
Adam de Coster's "Man & Boy by Candlelight" [1630] is displayed at The Rubenshuis ("Rubens House") ,the former home & studio of painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) in Antwerp, now a museum [2]
