Portrait of a Woman Aged Sixty

1633

Frans Hals

Painter, Dutch, c. 1582/1583 - 1666

This vertical portrait painting shows a pale-skinned older woman wearing a full, long-sleeved black dress with a wide white ruff at her neck and white lace cuffs at her wrists. She sits in a curving, low-backed wood chair against a pale brown background. Her body and the chair are angled slightly to our left, and she looks directly at us. She has small eyes, pink, rounded cheeks, and a wide chin. Her lips are parted in a slight smile, and her hair is covered by a starched, sheer white cap that flares at the sides. The ruff around her neck is gathered in accordion-like, narrow figure-eight folds, and it extends flat and stiff, nearly to her shoulders. Close inspection reveals that the dress is woven with a black-on-black brocade pattern and has a line of small black buttons down the front. She holds a small brown leather book tooled with gold ornament in her right hand, on our left, and her other hand rests on the arm of the chair. She wears a gold ring on each hand. An inscription is painted to our left of her head: “AETAT SVAE 60 ANo 1633.”

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The strength and vitality of the people who helped establish the new Dutch Republic are nowhere better captured than in the work of Frans Hals, who was the preeminent portrait painter in Haarlem, the most important artistic center of Holland in the early part of the seventeenth century. This unidentified sitter—one of Hals’ most impressive portraits—was sixty years old when the painting was made, according to the artist’s inscription. Hals conveys her strong personality through the twinkle in her eyes, the smile on her lips, the firm grip of her hand on the chair, and the boldness of her silhouette against the light gray-brown background. The small Bible or prayer book she holds implies a pious character, and her clothing is conservative for the period. The velvet-trimmed brocade jacket, satin skirt, and lace cuffs and cap are nonetheless of the highest quality and remind us that Haarlem’s wealth derived from the processing of and trade in textiles. The woman’s elaborate linen ruff collar, starched and supported by concealed wires, was gradually going out of style at this time.

Hals’ portraits were often commissioned as pendants in which a husband and wife face each other, with the man on the left and the woman on the right. It is quite possible that a similarly sized Portrait of an Elderly Man standing behind a chair, currently in the Frick Collection, New York, is the pendant to this superb and engaging work.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 46

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 102.5 x 86.9 cm (40 3/8 x 34 3/16 in.)
    framed: 142.4 x 126.7 x 15.2 cm (56 1/16 x 49 7/8 x 6 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.67

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: Portrait of a Woman Aged Sixty, 1633

This horizontal painting shows a group of eight light-skinned musicians and onlookers gathered closely around a rectangular, carpet-covered table. The front edge of the table runs parallel to the bottom edge of the painting, and seems close to us. Shown from about the waist up, the men and women’s vivid lapis-blue, coral-red, buttercup-yellow, lilac-purple, and moss-green garments fall in crisp folds. Bright reflections on the fabric suggest a satin-like material. Two women wear feathers in their hair and one man’s hat is plumed. One man, wearing crimson red and black, sits with his back to us to our left on the near side of the table. He holds the neck of a bass viol, about the size of a cello, with his left hand, and points to pages of an open music book with the bow in his right hand. The other people cluster on the far side of the table. A man to the left plays a violin; a woman at the center plays a guitar-sized bandora, and a woman to our right plays a lute. The musicians, along with a man who leans over the table from between the two women, look down at the music books. A young man behind the woman at the center holds up a glass of pale liquid with his right hand as he touches his left forefinger to his smiling lips. A man and woman stand close together in the background to our right, in the top right corner of the canvas.

Scholarly Series:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Jurriaans;[1] (his sale, Van de Schley, Roos, and De Vries, Amsterdam, 28 August 1817, no. 20); Cornelius Sebille Roos [1754-1820], Amsterdam. Charlotte-Camille, Comtesse Boucher de la Rupelle [née de Tascher, d. 1911], Paris; sold by 1905 to (Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris); James Simon [1851-1932], Berlin, by 1906; (Abraham Preyer, The Hague);[2] purchased 12 June 1919 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[3] held jointly with (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London), June to November 1919);[4] (Duveen Brothers, Inc.); sold June 1920 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] The name is also inscribed on copies of the 1817 sale catalogue as “Jurjans.” See the description of Sale Catalogue N-298 in The Getty Provenance Index© Databases, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles.
[2] From The Hague on 4 May 1919, Preyer cabled fellow dealers Scott and Fowles in New York that he had purchased the painting; see Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 229, box 374, folder 7.
[3] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 103, box 248, folder 22. Oddly, the Duveen prospectus, in NGA curatorial files, says the painting was acquired by Duveen in 1927, which is clearly an error.
[4] The painting was Agnew’s stock number J1821. This information comes from the Agnew stock books, and is recorded in the Public Collections portion of the Getty Provenance Index© Databases, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1905

  • Catalogue of 100 Paintings by Old Masters, Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris, 1905, no. 13.

1906

  • Ausstellung von Werken alter Kunst, Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin, 1906, no. 49.

1939

  • Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 179.

1989

  • Frans Hals, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, 1989-1990, no. 45, color repro.as Portrait of a Seated Woman.

Bibliography

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 3(1910):108, no. 371.

1909

  • Moes, Ernst Wilhelm. Frans Hals: sa vie et son oeuvre. Translated by J. de Bosschere. Brussels, 1909: 108, no. 186.

1914

  • Sedelmeyer, Charles. Hundred masterpieces. A selection from the pictures by old masters which form or have formed part of the Sedelmeyer Gallery. Paris, 1914: 30, no.13, repro.

  • Bode, Wilhelm von, and Moritz Julius Binder. Frans Hals: Sein Leben und seine Werke. 2 vols. Berlin, 1914: 1:40, no. 138, pl. 79.

  • Bode, Wilhelm von, and Moritz Julius Binder. Frans Hals: His Life and Work. 2 vols. Translated by Maurice W. Brockwell. Berlin, 1914: 1:43, no. 138, pl. 79.

1921

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals: des meisters Gemälde in 318 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 28. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921: 313, 103, 109, repro.

1923

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals: des Meisters Gemälde in 322 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 28. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, Berlin, and Leipzig, 1923: 313, 109, repro.

1930

  • Dülberg, Franz. Frans Hals: Ein Leben und ein Werk. Stuttgart, 1930: 114.

1936

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals Paintings in America. Westport, Connecticut, 1936: no. 41, repro.

1937

  • Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 40.

1939

  • McCall, George Henry. Masterpieces of art: Catalogue of European paintings and sculpture from 1300-1800. Edited by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Exh. cat. New York World's Fair, New York, 1939: 86, no. 179.

1941

  • Trivas, Numa S. The Paintings of Frans Hals. London and New York, 1941: 39, no. 41, pl. 59.

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 191, repro.

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 94, no. 67.

1942

  • National Gallery of Art. Book of illustrations. 2nd ed. Washington, 1942: 67, repro. 25, 240.

1949

  • National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. Washington, 1949: 74, repro.

1957

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. London, 1957: pl. 101.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963: 311, repro.

1965

  • National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 65.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 57, repro.

  • Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 132-133, 135, color repro.

1970

  • Slive, Seymour. Frans Hals. 3 vols. National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art. London, 1970–1974: 1(1970):115; 2(1970):pls. 135, 138; 3(1974):42, 50, no. 82.

1972

  • Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: Entwicklung, Werkanalyse, Gesamtkatolog. Berlin, 1972: 90, 202, no. 60, 89, repro.

1974

  • Montagni, E.C. L’opera completa di Frans Hals. Classici dell’Arte. Milan, 1974: 97, no. 83, 96, pl. 31.

1975

  • National Gallery of Art. European paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Washington, 1975: 168, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 268, no. 350, repro.

1979

  • Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 68, pl. 53.

1981

  • Baard, H. P. Frans Hals. New York, 1981: 57, fig. 60.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 268, no. 344, color repro.

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1984: 10, repro.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 196, repro.

1986

  • Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids and Kampen, 1986: 308.

1989

  • Slive, Seymour. Frans Hals. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem. London, 1989: 262-263, no. 45, color repro.

1990

  • Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: The Complete Work. Translated by Jürgen Riehle. New York, 1990: color repro. 168, 183, 279, no. 63.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 67.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 123, repro.

  • Crijns, Marianne, and Rieke van Leeuwen. Huidziekten in de Beeldende Kunst. Nieuwegein, 1992: 84, color repro.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 69-72, color repro. 71.

2001

  • Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA II: Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, 2001: 50-51, color repro.

2002

  • Weller, Dennis P. Jan Miense Molenaer: Painter of the Dutch Golden Age. Exh. cat. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis; Currier Museum of Art, Manchester. Raleigh, 2002: 110-111, repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 186-187, no. 146, color repro.

2005

  • Harris, Ann Sutherland. Seventeenth-century Art and Architecture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2005: 322, repro.

2012

  • Atkins, Christopher D.M. The Signature Style of Frans Hals: Painting, Subjectivity, and the Market in Early Modernity. Amsterdam, 2012: 226.

2014

  • Wheelock, Arthur K, Jr. "The Evolution of the Dutch Painting Collection." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 50 (Spring 2014): 2-19, repro.

2020

  • Dwyer, Kate. "A Riddle, Wrapped Inside a Twitter Account. New York Times 169, no. 58,743 (July 3, 2020): C6, repro.

Inscriptions

center left: AETAT SVAE 60 / ANo 1633

Wikidata ID

Q17859670

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