Nicolaes Maes - Portrait of a gentleman

Very fine Dutch 17th century old master portrait of a noble man by Nicolaes Maes
 
This three-quarter length portrait depicts a young man, standing in an elegant and mysterious park landscape. He is smiling kindly at the spectator and wearing an exquisite outfit.
 
The present work is a very beautiful and characteristic painting by Nicolaes Maes, signed and in good condition. 
 
Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693) was one of Rembrandt's most talented pupils. Around the tender age of 15 he left his native Dordrecht to move to Amsterdam to be apprenticed by the great Rembrandt. Until about 1660, Maes mainly painted genre scenes in the style of Rembrandt, with many light-dark contrasts and warm colours. After that, he switched to painting portrait paintings and started developing his own distinctive style; smoothly painted works in which he paid great attention to finely rendering all the details and in which he used bright colors. The combination of his talent and very well received style led to great successes. Maes became a much sought-after and very productive painter of the baroque state portrait. From 1653 to 1673 Maes moved back to Dordrecht and after which he returned for good to Amsterdam. Our painting was most likely created after his return to Amsterdam. 
 
The canvas measures ca. 67,5 by 55 cms and with frame ca. 85 by 71cms.
 
Provenance: Private collection Scandinavia 
 
Signed lower left under the pillar.