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Portrait of a Lady

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Look at the crisp pleats of the great white ruff and the quick highlights on her black damask sleeves, then find the Latin inscription with her age.

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Frans Hals kept to the formal portrait type set by specialists such as Paulus Moreelse, then brought his sitter to life with loose, quick touches of light on the lace cap and the patterned black bodice. The inscription on the plain wall at upper left gives the year, 1627, and her age, 33. The Art Institute of Chicago ranks Hals among the most admired portraitists of the 1600s.

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Oil on canvas · 86.5 × 70.7 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Dutch Golden Age

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Details and source

Museum title
Portrait of a Lady
Artist
Frans Hals (Dutch, 1582–1666)
Date
1627
Medium
Oil on canvas
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
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
Art Institute of Chicago

Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

Portrait of a Lady · Frans Hals, 1627
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Portrait of a Lady, Frans Hals

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