Portrait of a woman 1652

Frans Hals made this portrait of an unknown woman using oil on canvas sometime in the 17th century. While seemingly straightforward, the very act of painting with oils was by then a highly developed craft. Pigments ground into linseed oil, applied layer by layer to build up luminosity and depth. Hals’s loose brushwork, though skillful, shows a move away from earlier, more painstaking approaches. The woman's clothing also speaks volumes; the lace trim on her collar and cuffs, for instance, would have been incredibly labor-intensive to produce, indexing the skilled work of women. Hals captures not just her likeness, but also her social standing, reflecting a society deeply stratified by class and commerce. So next time you look at a painting, consider not just the subject, but the entire system of making that brought it into being.