Portrait of a Woman, Hendrik Gerritsz Pot (attributed to), 1638 – (Hendrik Gerritsz Pot) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Hendrik Gerritsz Pot

Date: 1638

Size: 45 x 34 cm

Technique: Oil On Panel

This small, delicately painted portrait of a woman is dated 1638, when Pot was living and working in Haarlem. His sitters were from the well-to-do burgher class of Haarlem and Amsterdam. The woman, who was in her thirties according to the inscription at top right, has not so far been identified. The glove and ring indicate that she is married. Given her pose, turned a little to the left, it is likely that there was a companion piece with the portrait of her husband, but that has not yet been identified. The sober look of this portrait is typical of the period. Paintings from the 1630s by Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck and Frans Hals often depict Haarlem burghers in a similar way, but their portraits are always larger. The portraits by Gerard ter Borch, who was also working in Haarlem at this time, also display similarities to Pot’s.3 There are several other female portraits that have stylistic affinities with this one, although there are minor differences. The Portrait of Anna Hooftman4 is smaller, in a size quite common for Pot, and is very delicately executed, but the figure is less monumental and more doll-like compared to the woman in this painting. The Portrait of a Lady,5 which some attribute to Pot, is actually larger, but is modelled a little more harshly. Everhard Korthals Altes, 2007 See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 247.