Portrait of a lady, standing half length on a terrace, wearing a black dress with lace chemise and pearl earrings, a landscape beyond

In 1660 Jan de Baen settled in The Hague to find a new clientele for his portraits. A. Houbraken relates in De Groote Schouburgh, etc., II, 1719, p.305, - The brushwork of Ant. van Dyk was highly esteemed, and that of Rembrandt also found many followers. He (de Baen) stood dozing long at this crossroads, not knowing which way was best to go, yet chose the manner of the first, as being of more lasting nature, as his model - that De Baen would become the successor to painters such as Adriaen Hanneman and Jan Mytens, who had stimulated the "English taste" in portraiture among The Hague courtiers in the 1640's and 1650's. The present picture is characteristic of De Baen's portraiture in these years: as in Hanneman's and Myten's portraits, the sitter is standing in three-quarter pose turned to the left, however the colouring is more subdued and the face is less idealized; the gestures show the influence of French artists such as Pierre Mignard, while the chiaroscuro is reminiscent of his teacher Jacob de Backer.