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Portrait of a Lady
Nicolaes Maes·1676
Historical Context
Maes's Portrait of a Lady from 1676 represents his late career style — the polished, elegant manner he adopted under Flemish influence after moving to Amsterdam, entirely different from the warm Rembrandtesque intimacy of his 1650s domestic genre scenes. By 1676, Maes was one of Amsterdam's most sought-after portrait painters, his style having adapted to the fashionable French-influenced taste that had replaced the earlier Dutch manner. The elegant costume, the confident three-quarter pose, and the polished surface treatment of this late portrait demonstrate his complete absorption of contemporary fashionable portrait conventions, prioritizing elegance and social display over the psychological depth that characterized his early work.
Technical Analysis
Maes's late portrait technique shows smooth, refined brushwork and a lighter palette than his early Rembrandtesque work. The sitter is rendered with elegant, idealized features and careful attention to costume and jewelry. The polished surface and classical composition reflect the international court portrait style Maes had adopted.
Provenance
Possibly Joseph Guillaume Jean Camberlyn [1783-1861], Brussels.[1] Camberlyn d'Amougies collection, by 1886;[2] Dowager Camberlyn d'Amougies, Pepinghen, near Brussels, by 1897 until at least 1915;[3] her son, Joseph Camberlyn d'Amougies; (sale, Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, 13 July 1926, no. 618, as _Portrait de Johanna Koerten, Femme d'Adriaan Blok_); De Haan. (sale, Sotheby's, London, 16 November 1960, no. 90a); (Appleby Brothers, Ltd., London). Mrs. Albert Heyse, Ghent; (Heyse sale, M. Dragonetti, Ghent, 13-15 May 1963, 2nd day, no. 345).[4] (Appleby Brothers, Ltd., London); purchased by Joseph F. McCrindle [1923-2008], New York;[5] gift 2001 to NGA. [1] Provenance as given by León Krempel, _Stidoem zi dem datoertem Gemälden des Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693)_, Petersberg, 1999: no. 185. [2] The painting was owned by this collection when it was lent to the 1886 exhibition in Brussels. [3] She was given as the owner by Ernst W. Moes, _Iconographia Batava. Beredeneerde Lijst van Geschilderde en Gebeeldhouwde Portretten van Noord-Nederlanders in Vorige Eeuwen_, Amsterdam, 1897-1905: 523, no. 4246, and by Hofstede de Groot, _Beschreibendes und Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der Hervorragendsten Holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts_, 10 vols., Esslingen am Neckar and Paris, 1907-1928: 6(1915):no. 201. [4] The provenance is contradictory at this point. The painting appears to match the painting in the Heyse sale, which includes the size and a photograph in the catalogue. According to the introduction in the sale catalogue, the collection that sold in Ghent in 1963 was formed mainly by Albert Heyse, who died in 1955. His widow maintained the collection after his death, and therefore presumably purchased the NGA painting after its appearance in the 1960 sale in London. The 1963 sale was under the direction of Jean Heyse, whose relationship to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Heyse has not been determined. However, Appleby Brothers is listed as the buyer in the 1960 catalogue, and they appear to have kept the painting until they included it in an exhibition in the summer of 1962. McCrindle purchased the painting in July 1962 from the exhibition, according to the invoice; see the copy in NGA curatorial files. [5] A "Nicolas Maes oil painting" appears on an Appleby Bros. Ltd. statement of account with J.F. McCrindle, dated 8 January 1963, in NGA curatorial files. This confirms the 1962 invoice.
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