This portrait is an adaptation, with slight differences in the dress and jewellery, of the full-length portrait of Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan of 1538 in the National Gallery, London. That version was produced at the request of Henry VIII, when the Duchess was being considered as a potential new, and fourth bride for the King, following the death of Jane Seymour. In 1538 Holbein was sent to Brussels, where the Duchess was living with her aunt, Mary of Hungary, Regent of the Netherlands. The one sitting, on 12 March 1538, lasted for three hours, and the result was presumably some sort of study, probably of the head only, which was then worked up into the full-length portrait commissioned by the King.

The sitter was the younger daughter of Christian II of Denmark and Isabella of Austria. She had been married to Franceso Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan in 1533, and widowed two years later at the age of sixteen. In 1541 she married François, duc de Bar, and became Regent of Lorraine upon his death in 1545. She is depicted here in full mourning, in a black dress with a cape and black cap. She holds brown gloves and wears three rings, one set with a cameo. 

Both this reduced version and the full-length version of the portrait appear in the inventories of Henry VIII and Edward VI, although they were not specified as by Holbein. The full-length remained in the Royal Collection until it is thought some time during the reign of Edward VI, when it was given to Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, and then passed by descent into the collection of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel. 

This version is marked on the back with the CR brand, denoting that it formed part of the collection of Charles I. It also appears in the collection of Charles II so was presumably recovered after the Restoration. In the inventory of James II it is described as 'A woman to the waste, holding her gloves in both hands'.