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''Portrait of Dorothea Berck'' is a 1644 painting by 
The painting, like many of Hals's portraits, is inscribed and signed, but there is no mention of the identity of the sitter, and it was only identified as Berck in 1908.Frans Hals: Exhibition on the Occasion of the Centenary of the Municipal Museum at Haarlem, 1862–1962, pp 63–64, publication Frans Hals Museum, 1962
The portrait is noted for its classical similarity to the Mona Lisa. Like the Mona Lisa, she sits upright in a dark chair and rests her hands on either a dark desk or perhaps a large dress that surrounds her. Her ungloved hand may be clasping a book or part of her sleeve. The loose brushwork is typical of Hals and shows a fleeting gesture with the casual way her finger is hooked over her wrist. Portraits of subjects with one glove on and one glove off are common in Dutch 17th-century marriage pendant portraits. Gloves symbolize the wedding vows where the husband and wife each hold one of a pair of gloves. In this case, her husband Joseph Coymans is wearing the "other glove" in his pendant portrait. In Hals' marriage pendant portraits, the husband is always situated on the left and the woman on the right, and the light always comes from the left, shining fully on the woman.
In 1639 the portrait of Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael was auctioned in Amsterdam and caused a sensation, making this posture popular at that time among the sitters for portraits in the Netherlands. Hals is sure to have seen the Castiglione portrait, but it is not certain he was familiar with the Mona Lisa, though works by renaissance masters such as Titian were actively collected and studied throughout the Netherlands and neo-classicism was on the rise at that time.
File:Frans Hals 1644 Portrait of Joseph Coymans.jpg, Pendant portrait of Joseph Coymans
File:Baldassare Castiglione, by Raffaello Sanzio, from C2RMF retouched.jpg, Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael
File:Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF retouched.jpg, Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci
Dorothea Berck is also known in Haarlem as a hofje founder. She purchased the hofje now known as the
Frans Hals
Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem.
Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group ...
that is in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. It depicts Dorothea Berck at age 51, the wife of the prosperous Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
merchant Joseph Coymans
Joseph Coymans (1591 – ca 1653), was a Dutch businessman in Haarlem, known best today for his portrait painted by Frans Hals, and its pendant, '' Portrait of Dorothea Berck''. The former resides at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, the l ...
, whose portrait Hals also painted. Both paintings were executed on the occasion of their daughter Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpora ...
's wedding, whose marriage pendants Hals also painted.
The painting, like many of Hals's portraits, is inscribed and signed, but there is no mention of the identity of the sitter, and it was only identified as Berck in 1908.Frans Hals: Exhibition on the Occasion of the Centenary of the Municipal Museum at Haarlem, 1862–1962, pp 63–64, publication Frans Hals Museum, 1962
The portrait is noted for its classical similarity to the Mona Lisa. Like the Mona Lisa, she sits upright in a dark chair and rests her hands on either a dark desk or perhaps a large dress that surrounds her. Her ungloved hand may be clasping a book or part of her sleeve. The loose brushwork is typical of Hals and shows a fleeting gesture with the casual way her finger is hooked over her wrist. Portraits of subjects with one glove on and one glove off are common in Dutch 17th-century marriage pendant portraits. Gloves symbolize the wedding vows where the husband and wife each hold one of a pair of gloves. In this case, her husband Joseph Coymans is wearing the "other glove" in his pendant portrait. In Hals' marriage pendant portraits, the husband is always situated on the left and the woman on the right, and the light always comes from the left, shining fully on the woman.
In 1639 the portrait of Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael was auctioned in Amsterdam and caused a sensation, making this posture popular at that time among the sitters for portraits in the Netherlands. Hals is sure to have seen the Castiglione portrait, but it is not certain he was familiar with the Mona Lisa, though works by renaissance masters such as Titian were actively collected and studied throughout the Netherlands and neo-classicism was on the rise at that time.
Vrouwe- en Antonie Gasthuys
The Vrouwe- en Antonie Gasthuis is a hofje on the Klein Heiligland 64a in Haarlem, Netherlands. It is open on weekdays from 10-17.00.
History of the Foundation
This hofje is run by a charitable foundation called 'Vrouwe- en Antonie Gasthuis', wh ...
in 1655 and gave it the name of "Coymans Hofje". It is unknown why the hofje was later resold to Kolder.Haarlems hofjes, Dr. G. H. Kurtz, Schuyt & Co C.V., Haarlem, 1972,
References
{{ACArt Berck, Dorothea 1644 paintings Berck Paintings in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art