Portrait of a woman, standing small three-quarter length, wearing a black dress with lace cuffs, vlieger, molenkraag and bonnet; she holds a glove in her left hand

This small portrait is to be compared with Frans Hals's portraits executed circa 1635-1640 of Feyntje van Steenkiste, wife of Lucas de Clercq, of 1635, in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (S. Slive, Frans Hals, II, 1970, fig.170, III, 1974, no.105), of an unknown woman of 1638 in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt (Slive, op.cit., II, fig.185, III, no.116) and of Maritge Vooght Claeszdr., wife of Pieter Jacobsz. Olycan, of 1639 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Slive, op.cit., II, fig.207, III, no. 129). In these works the poses of the sitters are more restrained than in depictions of men; the hands are either clasped or shown as in the present lot. As pointed out by Slive, op.cit., I, 1970, p.131, portraits on a small scale as in the present lot were early in demand; the first were painted by Thomas de Keyser and Pieter Codde circa 1625; clearly they were a speciality in their own right.

In a 17th century ebonized wooden frame

See colour illustration