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Portrait of a Woman
Nicolaes Maes (Dutch, 1634–1693)
1670s
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
115.9 x 95 cm (45 5/8 x 37 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Walter Scott Fitz
Accession Number10.104
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Maes studied drawing in his native Dordrecht before moving to Amsterdam, where he was a student of Rembrandt. He painted themes from religious history as well as scenes of everyday life, but by the 1660s dedicated himself to portraiture. Portraits like this one reveal his admiration for the work of the Flemish painters Rubens and van Dyck.
ProvenanceJuly 2, 1909, anonymous ("property of a gentleman") sale, Christie's, London, lot 95, to Asher Wertheimer (d. 1918), London for £2255 [see note 1]; sold by Wertheimer to Vose Galleries, Boston [see note 2]; 1910, sold by Vose to Mrs. Walter Scott Fitz (Henrietta Goddard Wigglesworth) (b. 1847 - d. 1929), Boston; 1910, gift of Mrs. Fitz to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 21, 1910)
NOTES:
[1] This painting was sold with its companion, a portrait of a gentleman also by Maes, with identical dimensions. The companion is now in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
[2] According to a letter from Vose to Arthur Fairbanks of the MFA (April 5, 1910), the painting "comes from the collection of Lord Buckland through Asher Wertheimer, the London dealer." However, the agent for Lord Buckland was unable to confirm that this painting was ever in the family's possession (letter from L. A. Daniel to Charles Cunningham of the MFA, December 19, 1939).
NOTES:
[1] This painting was sold with its companion, a portrait of a gentleman also by Maes, with identical dimensions. The companion is now in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
[2] According to a letter from Vose to Arthur Fairbanks of the MFA (April 5, 1910), the painting "comes from the collection of Lord Buckland through Asher Wertheimer, the London dealer." However, the agent for Lord Buckland was unable to confirm that this painting was ever in the family's possession (letter from L. A. Daniel to Charles Cunningham of the MFA, December 19, 1939).