Nicolaes Maes

Biblical and mythological scenes

In his early years as an independent artist in the early 1650s Maes painted a few biblical and mythological scenes. These include the Suffer the little Children to come unto Me (1652/3, London, National Gallery), Vertumnus and Pomona (possibly 1653, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin) and Woman of Samaria at the Well (c.1653, Russell collection, Amsterdam). Maes's biblical compositions were clearly indebted to his master Rembrandt's models but show at the same time that he was capable of interpreting the Bible and the iconographic precedents in an original manner. For instance, in the Dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael (1653, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) Maes portrays Abraham banishing the handmaiden Hagar along with their son, Ishmael.^[6] By showing Hagar's despondency and Ishmael's isolated posture the work is one of the most moving renderings of this theme, popular with Rembrandt's pupils.^[7] Most of Maes's religious compositions are of cabinet size except for the Christ Blessing the Children (National Gallery, London) which depicts life-size figures.^[3]

Genre painting

During this early period Maes showed himself to be among the most inventive genre painters in the Dutch Republic. He introduced new themes and invented unprecedented expressive poses, gestures and facial expressions.^[3] Maes painted various genre scenes set on the domestic doorsteps (for example A young boy receiving alms from an elderly man, 1656, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) and others praising the virtues of good parenting. These works were influential on other Dutch painters such as Jan Steen.^[8] Maes applied Rembrandt's stylistic characteristics such as the brushwork and chiaroscuro to domestic scenes that were the favourite subject matter of Dutch genre artists of his time.

His paintings of domestic interiors showing women engaged in household tasks are endowed with a solemn dignity through the play of light and shadow and the limited color palette derived from Rembrandt. Between 1654 and 1658, he created a large number of pictures of spinners, lace makers and mothers with children that express the contemporary moralistic view of the value of family life and quiet diligence.^[3] An example is The virtuous woman (c.1655, the Wallace Collection) which depicts a housewife sewing a shirt in a very tidy interior. An open Bible at her side implies that she is also clean and pious in spirit. A little boy at the window may indicate that the composition is a depiction of Proverbs 31, 10–19, about working hard and stretching the hand to the poor and the needy. Maes has thus transformed a simple domestic scene into an evocation of the exercise of dignity and moral uprightness in a true biblical sense.^[9]

Maes created some works showing everyday events occurring on the doorstep of a private house such as milkmaids ringing the doorbell or receiving payment or boys asking for alms. Maes was able to bestow on these mundane transactions a solemn dignity. Another theme treated by Maes in the mid-1650s are elderly female figures shown in half or three-quarter length such as an elderly woman saying grace before a simple meal, praying amid vanitas symbols or dozing over a Bible.^[3]

Maes's major contribution in the depiction of interior space was to treat domestic interiors not as shallow, three-walled boxes but as suites of rooms. These innovations in the structuring of interior space were likely inspired by the new story element he introduced in genre painting.^[3] These inventions had an important influence on Delft genre painters including Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch in particular in the compositional arrangements of people in interior spaces. Maes's exterior genre scenes may also have been influential on de Hooch's courtyard views.^[8]

Portrait painting

In his earlier portraits Maes places his sitters who are typically dressed and presented in an austere manner against a dark background. Maes's mature style was formed during the 1660s and shows the influence of the Flemish style of portraiture created by van Dyck, which had been introduced into the Dutch Republic in the previous decade. From this time onwards, Maes employed staging and accessories often seen in Flemish portraiture. In the 1670s Maes's style further developed to reflect the lighter spirit of the times as he places his sitters in elegant gardens painted in light tones and with a free brushstroke. These later portraits emphasize the gestures and poses, as well as the clothes and hairstyles of the models. The stylistic evolution of his portraits shows the influence of developments in Flemish and French portraiture.^[2]

Maes painted hundreds of portraits during his mature period. These were mostly executed in two standardised formats: the first used a small rectangular canvas to depict a half-length figure within a painted oval in a while the second used on a larger format to depict a three-quarter-length figure, who would be leaning against a prop such as a column, fountain or rock. The setting was often a terrace or garden against a sunset sky. He also created many group portraits of families or just children shown at full length amidst a landscape.^[3] During the 1670s and early 1680s he painted several portraits of children in the guise of mythological figures such as Ganymede, Apollo and Diana, either as single figure or in a family group.^[10] He further painted one group portrait of a guild, the Six Governors of the Amsterdam Surgeons' Guild (1680–81, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam).^[3]