NICOLAES MAES (DORDRECHT 1634-1693 AMSTERDAM)

In the second half of the 1650s, Nicolaes Maes, who had studied with Rembrandt earlier that decade, increasingly abandoned his early interest in genre and historical subjects in favor of portraiture, so much so that by circa 1660 he was exclusively a portraitist. Maes’ fashionable brand of portraiture found particular acclaim in the wealthy city of Amsterdam, to which he moved from Dordrecht in 1673. By the time this elegant couple sat for their portraits circa 1678-80, it could rightly be said that ‘so much work came his way that it was deemed a favor if one person was granted the opportunity to sit for his portrait before another, and so it remained for the rest of his life’ (A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, II, The Hague, 1719, p. 275).