1638
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of a Woman, probably Aeltje Dircksdr. Pater is a 1638 unspecified by Frans Hals, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman in a black dress and white collar looks straight at you. Her face is lit softly, while her ruffled collar and dark sleeves seem to shimmer. Frans Hals painted this quickly, layering wet paint before the last stroke dried. Look at her hairline—tiny blended lines make it look like real strands. The woman might be Aeltje Dircksdr. Pater, a mayor’s wife in Haarlem. To see more portraits with this loose, lively style, look up impasto.
Portraits by Hals often feature bold, jagged brushstrokes. This portrait shows him experimenting with the “wet-into-wet,” technique, in which layers of paint were added in succession without being allowed to dry in between. Note the blended strokes used at the woman’s hairline to suggest individual strands of hair. The sitter has been tentatively identified as Aeltje Dircksdr. Pater (1597–1678), wife of the Haarlem brewer and burgomaster (mayor) Jan de Wael (1594–1663). An inscription states she was 41 when Hals painted her.
Jewelry, lace, and sumptuous fabrics show off this woman's wealth—and the artist's skill in painting them.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Frans Hals the Elder (UK: , US: ; Dutch: ; c. 1582 – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places…
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