Portrait of Geertruida Hasselaer (1624-1696), standing three quarter length before a curtain, wearing a yellow silk dress and lace chemise, pearls and bonnet, with her right hand holding the train of her dress against her breast

The present lot once formed the pendant to the portrait of Gerard Hasselaer (1620-1673) (present location unknown; K. Bauch, op.cit, no.145, plate 38). Both were children of Nicolaas Hasselaer and Sara Hasselaer, née Wolfaert. They are to be dated to circa 1650 and compared with the Portrait of a Gentleman at Kassel (W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt Schýler, I, 1983, no.71, ill.) and the Portrait of a woman in the Getty Museum, Malibu. As pointed out by Bauch, op.cit., p.48, Backer's style underwent a change circa 1650, under the influence of van der Helst and the new casually elegant tone of English court portraiture of the 1630's.