Portrait of a Young Girl near a Fountain

Portrait of a Young Girl near a Fountain from around 1657 belongs to Maes's early period when he was still producing genre scenes alongside portraits. The fountain setting adds a pastoral element that reflects the fashionable taste for outdoor portrait settings imported from French and English portrait conventions into Dutch practice. Maes trained with Rembrandt in Amsterdam in the early 1650s before establishing himself as an independent master. This early period, before his full transition to fashionable portraiture, shows Maes at his most Rembrandtesque in approach, with warmer, more intimate characterization than his later polished society portraits. The Musées Nationaux Récupération holds this work as part of the French national collections of wartime recovered art.

The fountain setting creates a decorative backdrop that enhances the portrait's appeal. Maes's handling of the child's features combines naturalistic observation with the gentle idealization appropriate to youthful subjects.