Paintings in the Collection of Henry Clay Frick, 1915 [page 27]

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FRANS HALS (1584-1666) PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN Canvas 36 3/4 inches by 45 inches

THREE-QUARTER length; seated; turned halfway to the left; nearly full face; looking at the spectator; left forearm resting on arm of chair; the hand holding book; the right hand in front; dressed in black with cap and ruff; grey background.

Inscribed on the left, at top "Aetat suae 56 ANO. 1635." Mentioned in E. W. Moes' work on Frans Hals. Mentioned in de Groot's Catalogue of Dutch Painters. Exhibited at Burlington House, 1885, No. 105. Exhibited at Cent. chefs d'Oeuvre, 1892. Collection of J. Bernard, Amsterdam, 1834. Collection of de Vries. Collection of D. P. Sellar, London, 1889. Collection of Charles Shiff, Paris, 1893. Collection of Charles T. Yerkes, New York, 1910.

"While Rembrandt surpassed Hals only in one respect—in the romanticism of his life-effects—Hals was his equal in ever quality which goes to make a master of masters. No man has ever surpassed the Haarlem genius as a technician. The manner of painting, like execution in music, is of the greatest importance. The manner of Hals was bold, imperial , its power subdued and graded according to the importance of the parts; but above all of an ease and assurance, without correction or emendation, that verges on the miraculous. There was progress even in his magical touch, whereby the sparkling virtuosity of his earlier years developed toward greater refinement, harmony, and sobriety in his latest paintings, expressing himself ever more concisely and yet more clearly. " —Quoted from Preyer.

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