Portrait of a Woman, probably Aeltje Dircksdr. Pater (1638): Art, History and Details

Portrait of a Woman, probably Aeltje Dircksdr. Pater (1638) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Frans Hals (Dutch, c. 1581–1666).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Portraits by Hals often feature bold, jagged brushstrokes. This portrait shows him experimenting with the “wet-into-wet,” technique, in which layers of paint were added in succession without being allowed to dry in between. Note the blended strokes used at the woman’s hairline to suggest individual strands of hair. The sitter has been tentatively identified as Aeltje Dircksdr. Pater (1597–1678), wife of the Haarlem brewer and burgomaster (mayor) Jan de Wael (1594–1663). An inscription states she was 41 when Hals painted her.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of a Woman, probably Aeltje Dircksdr. Pater
• Date: 1638
• Creator attribution: Frans Hals (Dutch, c. 1581–1666)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 82 x 67 x 6.5 cm (32 5/16 x 26 3/8 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 66.5 x 52.3 cm (26 3/16 x 20 9/16 in.)
• Collection: P - Netherlandish-Dutch
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1948.137

A detail from the museum

Jewelry, lace, and sumptuous fabrics show off this woman's wealth—and the artist's skill in painting them.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Roos, Cornelis François, and Jeronimo de Vries. Schilderijen, door voorname oude en hedendaagsche meesters. 1851.
• Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Vol. 3. London: Macmillan, 1910.
• Roos, Cornelis François, and Jeronimo de Vries. Schilderijen, door voorname oude en hedendaagsche meesters. 1851.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.