Provenance
Jurriaans;[1] (his sale, Van de Schley, Roos, and De Vries, Amsterdam, 28 August 1817, no. 20); Cornelius Sebille Roos [1754-1820], Amsterdam. Charlotte-Camille, Comtesse Boucher de la Rupelle [née de Tascher, d. 1911], Paris; sold by 1905 to (Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris); James Simon [1851-1932], Berlin, by 1906; (Abraham Preyer, The Hague);[2] purchased 12 June 1919 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[3] held jointly with (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London), June to November 1919);[4] (Duveen Brothers, Inc.); sold June 1920 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] The name is also inscribed on copies of the 1817 sale catalogue as “Jurjans.” See the description of Sale Catalogue N-298 in The Getty Provenance Index© Databases, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles.
[2] From The Hague on 4 May 1919, Preyer cabled fellow dealers Scott and Fowles in New York that he had purchased the painting; see Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 229, box 374, folder 7.
[3] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 103, box 248, folder 22. Oddly, the Duveen prospectus, in NGA curatorial files, says the painting was acquired by Duveen in 1927, which is clearly an error.
[4] The painting was Agnew’s stock number J1821. This information comes from the Agnew stock books, and is recorded in the Public Collections portion of the Getty Provenance Index© Databases, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles.
Accession Number
1937.1.67
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 102.5 x 86.9 cm (40 3/8 x 34 3/16 in.) | framed: 142.4 x 126.7 x 15.2 cm (56 1/16 x 49 7/8 x 6 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Canvas Dutch
Background & Context
Background Story
Frans Hals (c. 1582-1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his portraits rendered with the rapid, visible brushwork that gives them an unprecedented sense of life and immediacy. Portrait of a Woman Aged Sixty from 1633 depicts a sixty-year-old woman in the vigorous, visible brushwork that distinguishes Hals's best portraiture from the smoother manner of his contemporaries. The subject's age is recorded in the title with the specificity that is characteristic of Dutch portraiture, and the woman's identity as a private citizen rather than a public figure shows the democratic scope of Dutch portrait painting in the Golden Age.
Cultural Impact
Portrait of a Woman Aged Sixty is important in the history of Dutch portraiture because it demonstrates the democratic scope of Dutch portrait painting in the Golden Age. The subject is a private citizen rather than a public figure, and the specificity of her age in the title shows the Dutch practice of recording personal information in portraiture that distinguishes Dutch portrait painting from the more generalized portraiture of other European traditions.
Why It Matters
Portrait of a Woman Aged Sixty is Hals's vigorous portraiture at its most respectful: a sixty-year-old woman rendered with the rapid, visible brushwork that gives Hals's portraits their unprecedented sense of life. The 1633 painting shows the democratic scope of Dutch Golden Age portraiture—a private citizen given the same vigorous treatment that Hals brought to public figures.
