Nicolaes Maes - Portrait Of A Woman Ca 1655

Very fine Dutch 17th century old master portrait of a lady, ca. 1655

This bust-length portrait captures an enigmatic woman with gentle eyes and a soft, loving smile. Her expression evokes the warmth and quiet strength of a beloved grandmother, one who welcomes her family with open arms and offers love, support and wisdom with every glance.

Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693) was one of Rembrandt's most talented pupils. Around the tender age of 15 he left his native Dordrecht to move to Amsterdam to be apprenticed by the great Rembrandt. Until about 1660, Maes mainly painted genre scenes in the style of Rembrandt, with many light-dark contrasts and warm colours. After that, he switched to painting portrait paintings and started developing his own distinctive style; smoothly painted works in which he paid great attention to finely rendering all the details and in which he used bright colors. The combination of his talent and very well received style led to great successes. Maes became a much sought-after and very productive painter of the baroque state portrait. From 1653 to 1673 Maes moved back to Dordrecht and after which he returned for good to Amsterdam. Our painting was most likely created after his return to Amsterdam.

Dimensions:
The panel measures ca. 34.5 by 28.5 cms.

On behalf of the painting, we are grateful to Dr. Krempel for confirming the attribution to the previous owner in private correspondence.

Literature regarding Nicolaes Maes: L. Krempel, Studien zu den datierten Gemälden des Nicolaes Maes, Petersberg, 2000.