Woman Holding a Basket of Fruits, 1663 – 1670

About the Work

He was destined for art from the cradle: Johann Ulrich Mayr, son of an Augsburg woman painter, trained first with Rembrandt in Amsterdam and later in Antwerp with Jacob Jordaens. Returning to his native city in southern Germany, he became one of the leading masters there. The basket of fruit and the leaves ornamenting her hair put this anonymous beauty on the same footing as Flora or Ceres, the goddesses of fruitfulness and bounty. The red cloak enhances the appeal of this truly eye-catching young woman with the pearl earring – and yet she seems absorbed in her own thoughts.