Portret van Maria Petitpas (?-1640)

About this artwork

olieverf op paneel

Art Historical Context

Painted in 1637 by Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, this oil-on-panel portrait captures Maria Petitpas three years before her death. Van Mierevelt, one of the most sought-after portraitists of the Dutch Golden Age, worked primarily in Delft and The Hague, where he recorded the likenesses of statesmen, scholars, and members of the merchant elite with remarkable precision. Working in oil on a smooth wooden panel allowed the artist to achieve the fine detail and luminous skin tones for which he was celebrated. His restrained yet elegant style—characterized by careful attention to costume, jewelry, a...

About the Artist

Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt · 1567–1641

Son of the goldsmith Jan Michielsen van Miereveldt and a pupil (when he was 12 years old) of Antonio Blocklandt (known as Montfort) in Utrecht and later of Willem Willemsz. It is very difficult to distinguish his work from the innumerable copies of his paintings that he allowed to be made, even sometimes signing them with his own name. Basically a portrait painter, he also painted historical and ...