Portrait of a Woman, Frans Hals
Frans Hals
Portrait of a Woman
DE
Back to top
Related works

Frans Hals

Portrait of a Woman, 1638


Dimensions
94.5 x 70.2 x min. 0.4 cm
maximum depth
0.8 cm
Physical Description
Oil on oak
Inventory Number
78
Acquisition
Acquired in 1816 with the founder’s bequest
Status
On display, 2nd upper level, Old Masters, room 1

Texts

About the Acquisition

Frans Hals was about fifty-five years old when he painted these splendid portraits of an unknown husband and wife. These life-size likenesses must have played an important role in the private collection of Johann Friedrich Städel (1728-1816), especially because people erroneously believed that the subjects of the paintings were likenesses of Peter Paul Rubens and his first wife, Isabella Brant. It is interesting to note that Städel owned these portraits long before the Dutch portrait painter Frans Hals was properly rediscovered by art academics in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Frankfurt banker and merchant Johann Friedrich Städel had assembled his art collection, which focused mainly on the art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in his house on Rossmarkt. In 1815 he bequeathed it to the foundation which was to bear his name and thus provided the City of Frankfurt with its first public art museum.

Audio

  • Basic information
    00:58
  • Focus on Frankfurt
    01:01

Work Data

Basic Information

Title
Portrait of a Woman
Painter
Period Produced
School
Object Type
Physical Description
Oil on oak
Material
Technique
Label at the Time of Manufacture
Monogrammiert und datiert links in der Mitte: AETATIS SVAE 44 ANo 1638 FH (AE beide Male und FH ligiert)

Property and Acquisition

Institution
Departement
Collection
Creditline
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Picture Copyright
Public Domain
Acquisition
Acquired in 1816 with the founder’s bequest

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre
Main Motif
Associated Persons and Institutions

Iconclass

Primary
  • 61BB2(+53) historical persons - BB - woman (+ half-length portrait)
Secondary

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History
...
Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816), Frankfurt am Main
Nachlass Johann Friedrich Städel, 1816.

Information

Since 2001, the Städel Museum has systematically been researching the provenance of all objects that were acquired during the National Socialist period, or that changed owners or could have changed owners during those years. The basis for this research is the “Washington Declaration”, also known as the “Washington Conference Principles”, formulated at the 1998 “Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets” and the subsequent “Joint Declaration”.

The provenance information is based on the sources researched at the time they were published digitally. However, this information can change at any time when new sources are discovered. Provenance research is therefore a continuous process and one that is updated at regular intervals.

Ideally, the provenance information documents an object’s origins from the time it was created until the date when it found its way into the collection. It contains the following details, provided they are known:

  • the type of acquisition and/or the way the object changed hands
  • the owner's name and place of residence
  • the date on which it changed hands

The successive ownership records are separated from each other by a semicolon.

Gaps in the record of a provenance are indicated by the placeholder “…”. Unsupported information is listed in square brackets.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the museum at .

More to discover

Albums

Contact

Do you have any suggestions, questions or information about this work?

Last update

23.04.2024