De spinster

Nicolaes Maes prints bring the warm, hushed interiors of the Dutch Golden Age into your home. Maes was a pupil of Rembrandt whose scenes of women at work, old people at prayer and eavesdroppers on the stairs helped shape Dutch genre painting, before he became the leading portrait painter in Amsterdam. Our collection of fine art prints includes his genre scenes, biblical pictures and many elegant portraits of Dutch men, women and children.

About Nicolaes Maes

Nicolaes Maes was born in Dordrecht in January 1634, the second son of Gerrit Maes, a prosperous cloth merchant and soap boiler. After early lessons with a local painter, he went to Amsterdam around 1648 and spent about five years in the studio of Rembrandt. From him Maes took his warm palette of red, brown and ochre, his love of intimate scenes of mothers and children, and the habit of working out compositions in drawings.

By December 1653 he was back in Dordrecht, where he married Adriana Brouwers, a preacher's widow. Over the next few years he painted his best-known genre scenes and biblical pictures, and taught pupils including his stepson Justus de Gelder. From the 1660s he turned almost entirely to portraits, adopting the more elegant, Flemish-influenced style that was in fashion; he is said to have visited Antwerp to study Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens. He prospered, owning houses and serving as a lieutenant in the local civic guard.

In 1673, after the disastrous year of 1672 hit the Dutch art market, Maes moved to Amsterdam. With the leading portraitists there recently dead, he became so much in demand that sitters considered it a favour to be painted by him. He died in Amsterdam a wealthy man and was buried in the Oude Kerk on 24 December 1693, beside his wife.

Style and Subjects

Maes's genre scenes of the mid-1650s are some of the most atmospheric pictures of the Dutch Golden Age. Women make lace, spin, peel apples or rock a cradle; an old woman nods off over her Bible or says grace before a meal. His colours are red, brown, ochre, black and white, softened by a gentle haze. Many scenes look through doorways into back rooms, kitchens and gardens, an idea later taken up by Pieter de Hooch and Johannes Vermeer.

A special group shows an eavesdropper, usually a woman, listening to a couple or a servant and glancing out at the viewer as if sharing a secret. His later portraits are elegant and fashionable, with sitters in silks before fountains and gardens.

Famous Works

• Christ Blessing the Children (c. 1652), National Gallery, London. His only large history painting, perhaps made at the end of his years with Rembrandt.
• Abraham Dismissing Hagar and Ishmael (1653), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The one history painting that bears his signature, used to identify his other early works.
• The Listening Housewife (The Eavesdropper) (1655), Royal Collection. One of his famous eavesdropper pictures.
• The Idle Servant (1655), National Gallery, London. One of his gently moralising genre scenes of household life.
• The Lacemaker (1656), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A young woman absorbed in her lace, a quiet scene of domestic work.
• Old Woman Saying Grace (The Prayer without End) (1656), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. One of his pictures of devout old people, a subject that brought him success.
• The Daydreamer (c. 1650s), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Also known as Girl at a Window, one of his best-loved images.

Decorating with Maes Prints

Maes's warm reds and browns make his genre scenes perfect for cosy rooms. A print such as The Lacemaker or Young Woman Peeling Apples suits a kitchen, dining room or reading nook with wood, linen and candlelight, and The Daydreamer is lovely in a bedroom or by a window seat.

The old women at prayer or asleep over their books, like An Old Woman Dozing over a Book, suit a library or study. His portraits, with their silks and dark backgrounds, work well in a hallway or formal living room, hung in pairs.

FAQ

Who was Nicolaes Maes?

Maes was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Dordrecht who studied with Rembrandt in Amsterdam. He is known for his genre scenes of the 1650s and later became the leading portrait painter in Amsterdam.

What art movement was Nicolaes Maes part of?

He belonged to the Dutch Golden Age and the circle of Rembrandt's pupils. His genre scenes, with views through doorways into other rooms, influenced Pieter de Hooch and Johannes Vermeer.

What is Nicolaes Maes's most famous painting?

His best-known works include The Listening Housewife (1655), Old Woman Saying Grace, known as The Prayer without End (1656), and The Daydreamer, both in the Rijksmuseum.

What are Maes's eavesdropper paintings?

They are a group of genre scenes in which a figure, usually a woman, secretly listens to a couple or a servant and looks out at the viewer as if inviting us into the secret.

Related Artists

• Rembrandt van Rijn: Maes's teacher in Amsterdam for about five years
• Samuel van Hoogstraten: Dordrecht painter whose early work Maes knew well, possibly his first teacher
• Pieter de Hooch: took up Maes's views through doorways into other rooms
• Johannes Vermeer: Delft painter whose early interiors followed similar ideas
• Ferdinand Bol: former fellow townsman whose elegant portrait style Maes followed from about 1665