Portrait of a lady - Nicolaes Maes

Very fine Dutch 17th century old master portrait of a young lady by Nicolaes Maes
 
This three-quarter length portrait depicts a raven-haired beauty, seated in an elegant arcadian park landscape. She is smiling coyly at the spectator and wearing a luxurious outfit. Her opulent sapphire blue silk gown is adorned with two diamond brooches and shimmering beautifully, around her neck we can see a thick pearl necklace which was a highly prized and cherished possession at the time. 
 
The present work is a very beautiful and characteristic painting by Nicolaes Maes and in wonderful 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. 61 by 51cms and with frame ca. 76 by 56cms.
 
Provenance: Private collection Germany
 
Signed lower left.