Portrait of Anna van der Aar

Frans Hals painted Portrait of Anna van der Aar around 1626, a pendant portrait likely painted alongside a companion portrait of her husband. Anna's direct gaze, the formal dignity of her dress, and the calm self-possession of her bearing are characteristic of Hals's female portraiture in the mid-1620s, when he was at the peak of his commercial success in Haarlem. The painting demonstrates his ability to balance the formal conventions required by commissioned portraiture — the sitter's social dignity must be honored and projected — with his characteristic preference for the living, breathing presence of the specific individual rather than the social type.

The elaborate ruff and embroidered dress are rendered with precise, controlled brushwork, while the sitter's alert, intelligent expression is captured with the vivacity that distinguishes Hals from more formal Dutch portraitists.