Portrait of a man in a wig

Portrait of a Man in a Wig from 1676 by Nicolaes Maes at the Museum of Art in Łódź documents the adoption of the wig as a fashion accessory by the Dutch elite. The periwig, originally a French fashion associated with Louis XIV's court, became increasingly common among Dutch gentlemen in the later seventeenth century as French cultural influence spread across Europe. Maes trained with Rembrandt in Amsterdam in the early 1650s before establishing himself as an independent master. His mature portrait style absorbed Flemish elegance—producing fashionable likenesses with looser brushwork and warmer flesh tones that satisfied the demand of Amsterdam's prosperous class. The wig's curling locks provide textural interest above the sitter's naturalistic face, rendered with Maes's characteristic attention to the fashion elements that marked social aspiration in late seventeenth-century Amsterdam.

The wig's curling locks provide textural interest above the sitter's naturalistic face, rendered with Maes's characteristic attention to costume fashion.