Portrait of a Lady

CC0 Public Domain Designation

1627

Frans Hals (Dutch, 1582/83–1666)

Frans Hals, one of the most celebrated portrait painters of the 17th century, demonstrated here his signature verve in inscribing decoration on black satin and capturing the freshness of his subject’s skin. Adopting the portrait conventions established by such specialists as Paulus Moreelse, Hals enlivened this sitter through the application of loose brushstrokes to create highlights on her lace cap and brocaded bodice. The plain background, which bears the date of the painting and the age of the sitter, focuses attention on the 33-year-old woman’s face and fine attire.

Status: On View, Gallery 213
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Frans Hals
Title: Portrait of a Lady
Place: Holland (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1627
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed and dated: AETAT SUAE 33 / ANO 1627
Dimensions: 86.5 × 70.7 cm (34 1/4 × 27 13/16 in.); Framed: 107 × 91.4 × 6.4 cm (42 1/8 × 36 × 2 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Max and Leola Epstein Collection
Reference Number: 1954.287
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/105945/manifest.json

W.R. Valentiner, Frans Hals: des Meisters Gemälde (Berlin: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart, 1921), 199 (ill.), 318.
Wilhelm R. Valentiner, Frans Hals: des Meisters Gemälde (Klassiker der Kunst), 2nd, rev. ed. (Berlin: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart, 1923), 128 (ill.), 315.
Max Epstein, Old Masters in the Collection of Max Epstein (Chicago: n.p., 1928), n.p. (ill.).
Alfred M. Frankfurter, “Paintings by Frans Hals in the United States,” The Antiquarian 13 no. 2 (September 1929): 33 (ill.), 88, 90.
Charles Holms, Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of Dutch Art Held in the Galleries of the Royal Academy, Burlington House, London, January - March 1929 (London: Oxford University Press, 1930), xxv, and cat. no. 348.
Franz Dülberg, Frans Hals: Ein Leben und ein Werk (Stuttgart: Paul Neff Verlag, 1930), 117.
W.R. Valentiner, Frans Hals Paintings in America (Westport, CT: Frederic Fairchild Sherman, 1936), 11, no. 43 (ill.).
Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), 209.
Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 no. 55 (September 1966): 203.
Marigene Butler, “Portrait of a Lady by Frans Hals,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 5 (1970): 6-21, figs. 1-9.
C.C. Cunningham, “Note on a Portrait of a Lady by Frans Hals,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 5 (1970): 5.
Seymour Slive, Frans Hals (London: Phaidon, 1970-[74]), vol. 1, 185; vol. 2, pl. 77; vol. 3, cat. no. 52.
Marigene Butler, “Porträt einer Dame von Frans Hals. Eine erfolgreiche Anwendung mikroskopischer Untersuchungsmethoden an Farbschichten,” Maltechnik/Restauro 78 (1972): 76-91, figs. 1-10.
Claus Grimm, Frans Hals: Entwicklung, Werkanalyse, Gesamtkatalog (Berlin: Mann, 1972), 24-5, 78, 200, no. 29, fig. 46 (detail).
Claus Grimm and E. C. Montagni, L’opera completa di Frans Hals (Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1974), 93, no. 54, fig. 54.
Janice J. Feldstein and Maureen Smith, Art Institute of Chicago : 100 Masterpieces (Chicago: Art Institute, 1978), 58, fig. 21.
John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America (New York: Abbeville Press, 1979), 164.
Peter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America (Grand Rapids, MI: WM B. Eerdmans, 1986), 49, 51.
Claus Grimm, Frans Hals: Das Gesamtwerk (Stuttgart: Belser Verlag, 1989), 20, 267n18, 273, cat. no. 35, figs. 8a, 8b.
Ingeborg Worm, “Frans Hals” in Dictionary of Art, vol. 14 (London: Macmillan Publisher Ltd., 1996), 93-4.
Erik Larsen, “A Newly Established ‘Portrait of a Woman’ by Frans Hals,” Pantheon 56 (1998): 106-7, fig. 2.
Jasper Hillegers, “Cornelia Claesdr. Vooght,” in Frans Hals: Eye to Eye with Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian, exh. cat. (Haarlem: Frans Halsmuseum, 2013), under cat. no. 13.
Clause Grimm, Frans Hals and his Workshop, The Hague, 2023–24, A1.31, accessed July 17, 2024, <https://frans-hals-and-his-workshop.rkdstudies.nl/contents/>

New York, Reinhardt Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Paintings from El Greco and Rembrandt to Cézanne and Matisse, 15 Jan. - 29 Jan. 1927, cat. no. 4 (ill.).
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Dutch Art, 1450-1900, Jan. 4 – Mar. 9, 1929, cat. no. 348
Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, An Exhibition of Fifty Paintings by Frans Hals, Jan. 10 – Feb. 28, 1935, cat. no. 25.
Chicago, The Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, Max Epstein Memorial Exhibition, May 3 - May 14, 1955, cat. no. 7.

Probably English private collection [W.R. Valentiner stated that it came from an English collection in an expertise dated 16 April 1923 in the curatorial file]; Steinmeyer, Lucerne, by 1921 [see Valentiner 1921]. Henry Reinhardt & Sons, Inc., New York, by 1923 [see letter from Reinhardt to Max Epstein dated 24 April 1923 in curatorial file]; sold to Max Epstein, Chicago, probably in 1923 (died 1954); bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1954.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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