Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666)
Portrait of a Woman
c.1648
Oil on canvas, 108 x 80 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Dated around 1648 and perhaps, according to Grimm, a work by Jan Hals, in comparison with the latter’s Portrait of a Lady, dated 1648 and kept in the Boston Museum (Slive [1974], no. D77; Grimm, fig . 102B p. 254), buttery and a little wise. The male counterpart, if there was one, remains to be found. Valentiner’s hypothesis, which sees Washington Man (Slive [1974], no. 191 and [1989], no. 71: around 1650–1652) as an original counterpart, is hardly convincing both for style only for psychological appearance, and is not based on any element of provenance. (Louvre)