Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009434Portrait of a Woman, probably Aeltje Dircksdr. Pater
by Frans Hals
Also known as: Portrait of a Woman; Portrait of a Lady in a Ruff
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
Inscribed upper left: "AETAT SUAE 41 / ANNO 1638"
Provenance
Until 1851: Private collection, Amsterdam 1851: (Jeronimo de Vries/Johannes Albertus Brondgeest, Amsterdam, sale, September 15, 1851, no. 198, fl. 40 [with pendant], to Brondgeest [bought in]) by 1873-1874: Baron Anselm Mayer von Rothschild (1803–1874), Vienna (inv. AR705), by descent to his son, Baron Albert von Rothschild Probably 1874-1911: Baron Albert von Rothschild (1844-1911), Vienna, by descent to his son, Alphonse von Rothschild Probably 1911-1938: Baron Alphonse von Rothschild (1878-1942), until confiscated by the Nazis in March 1938. 1938-1945: In the possession of the Nazis. Apparently intended for the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, but kept at the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck. By 1945 stored in the salt mines at Alt Aussee. 1945-1947: In possession of the Allies. Restituted to Alphose von Rothschild's widow, Baroness Clarice de Rothschild. 1947-1948: Baroness Clarice de Rothschild (1894-1967); sold to Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York 1948: (Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1948-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Exhibition history
Dutch Painting, The Golden Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 27, 1955). Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963). Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973). Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Frans Hals (Dutch, c. 1581–1666)
- Date
- 1638
- Medium
- 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.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Accession no.
- 1948.137
More by Frans Hals in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009434
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