Portrait of Catharina Pels (1665-1704)

Portrait of Catharina Pels from 1685 by Nicolaes Maes depicts a member of the Pels family, a prominent Amsterdam dynasty. The identified sitter and date place this work in Maes's late career, when his portrait style had become fully refined. 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 sati...

The portrait renders the identified sitter with Maes's mature combination of precise characterization and elegant presentation.