Rubens stayed at Balthasar Gerbier's house during his visit to London in 1629-30, and this portrait of Gerbier's daughter was taken from the life at this time.

The charming young woman differs noticeably from the buxom, smiling women in the artist's paintings.

In creating this drawing, the artist used various combinations of red and black chalk, with soft touches of white highlighting. Every stroke in the drawing is relevant to the depiction of the sitter: the face is modelled with light strokes, the figure, shoulders, and arms under the folds of the dress are executed in clear, firm lines. Depicting the hair, the artist alternated red chalk and pencil strokes. Thus the artist created a marvellously sparkling, lively, painterly work.