Portrait of Maria Pietersdr Olycan

Frans Hals painted Maria Pietersdr Olycan in 1638, as a pendant portrait to her husband's likeness. Hals frequently painted married couples as matching pairs, following the Dutch convention of separate but complementary portraits that would hang on either side of a fireplace or doorway. Hals's revolutionary loose brushwork, capturing the immediacy of fleeting expression with a boldness that seemed impossibly spontaneous to his contemporaries, was rediscovered by the Realists and Impressionists in the nineteenth century as an anticipation of their own aims.

The sitter's elaborate lace collar and dark silk dress are rendered with Hals's characteristic bravura brushwork, with the lace painted in swift, precise strokes that suggest its delicate transparency.