Portrait of a fat lady (Petronella Dunois Groenendijk?)

Portrait of a Fat Lady from 1684 by Nicolaes Maes is a remarkably honest portrait that does not flatter the sitter's corpulent figure. Dutch portrait painters were expected to deliver accurate likenesses, and Maes's truthful rendering reflects this professional commitment. 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 ...

The sitter is rendered with unflinching naturalism, Maes's honest approach to physical description creating a portrait of character as well as likeness.