Portrait of a Woman with a Fan

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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This painting demonstrates Frans Hals’s gift for creating lively and animated portraits that suggest distinctive personalities. We don't know who the woman in this compelling work is, but her elegant dress and jewellery indicate that, like many of Hals’s patrons, she may have been the wife of a wealthy citizen of Haarlem.

Hals has paid great attention to the detail of her costume, which is characteristic of the period around 1640, when this picture was probably painted. She holds an expensive fan made of feathers, set in a gold mount and suspended from a gold chain. This object functions as a status symbol but also serves to give the woman’s pose movement. She pulls playfully on the chain with one hand and holds the fan’s mount delicately between the thumb and ring finger of the other – a position that could change momentarily.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Portrait of a Woman with a Fan

Date

about 1640

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 79.8 x W 59 cm

Accession number

NG2529

Acquisition method

Salting Bequest, 1910

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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