Artwork
Portrait of a Woman

Portrait of a Woman is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Jürgen Ovens. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The subject is identified simply as a woman; no additional iconographic attributes or symbolic elements are documented in the available records.
Portrait of a Woman by Jürgen Ovens, painted in 1650, portrays a single female sitter rendered in oil on canvas (125.4 × 95.9 cm). The work is classified as a portrait and is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The subject is identified simply as a woman; no additional iconographic attributes or symbolic elements are documented in the available records.
Consequently, the painting's meaning is tied to its function as a contemporary portrait, reflecting the sitter's status and the artist's practice in mid‑17th‑century Dutch‑German art.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1650 by Jürgen Ovens, this portrait is an oil painting on canvas. The work measures 125.4 cm in height and 95.9 cm in width. As a formal portrait, the composition focuses on a female subject, adhering to the genre conventions of the mid-seventeenth century.
The application of oil paint on a woven canvas support was a standard technique for portraits of this scale and period, allowing for the detailed rendering of the sitter's features and attire. The piece is currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where its physical dimensions and material composition are recorded as part of its cataloging data.
History & Provenance
Portrait of a Woman, painted by Jürgen Ovens in 1650, is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The work is part of the museum's collection, listed under the museum's catalogue entries for Ovens's paintings; however, the specific inventory or accession number is not disclosed in the available documentation. The painting's provenance is limited to its inclusion in the museum's holdings, and no exhibition history is recorded in the provided sources.
Overview
Jürgen Ovens, a painter and art dealer from North Frisia, created Portrait of a Woman around 1650. This oil painting exemplifies Dutch Golden Age portraiture, focusing on the distinct features of an individual. The work employs a dark background to highlight the subject's face and hands, a technique that adds depth and drama to the composition. It is now part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jürgen Ovens (1623 – 9 December 1678), also known as Georg, or Jurriaen Ovens whilst in the Netherlands, was a portrait painter and art-dealer from North Frisia and, according to Arnold Houbraken, a pupil of Rembrandt.

















