 In contrast to the deep atmospheric space the sitters occupy in these works, here d'Este is set against a plain white or ivory flattened background with little shadow, a hark back to the traditions of the style of the International Gothic.The portrait is an advancement from the donor portraits common at the time, in part because it celebrates the sitter's earthly, secular values, and is absent of any moralising overtones or religious iconography.It is one of a number of portraits commissioned to an der Weyden by the Dukes of Burgundy from the late 1450s.