Dutch school; circa 1600. Lot n° 18

Dutch school; circa 1600. "Portrait of a lady. Oil on copper. It presents slight losses of the pictorial layer. Measurements: 5 x 4,5 cm. Portrait of oval format and of small dimensions, in which the bust of a richly dressed young woman can be appreciated. Her large ruff, the black embroidery on her dress and the floral headdress she wears on her hair, indicate the distinction of the young lady. From the Renaissance, miniature portraits, framed in a circle or oval, were pieces for private contemplation. Considered as jewellery, in the 17th century they became pieces of personal adornment or a gift, when they were mounted as jewellery. They were executed in a wide variety of techniques, such as oil on copper, pewter or ivory, gouaches on parchment or cardboard and, from the 18th century, watercolour on ivory. This delicate art was lost from the second half of the 19th century onwards, in parallel with the development of photography. Portraiture, whether individual, group or even character portraits, embodies the relationship between the individual and society, and therefore the state. This genre accounts for a full third of the total output of the Dutch Baroque, and its main innovator in Holland was Frans Hals, who, thanks to the power with which he marked the character of his models, penetrating their personality to the point of giving them vitality and spontaneous truth, was able to free himself from the prevailing late mannerism, giving rise to a new conception of the portrait. Faced with the exuberant and elegant Mannerist portraiture, of virtuoso and elaborate execution, a general reaction was triggered at the beginning of the 17th century, based on compositional austerity and operational sobriety. Thus, in contrast to the previous century's desire for virtuosity, Dutch Baroque portraitists revived the earlier models in a more sober and solid manner, focusing on the characterisation of the sitters, the elegance of the poses and the delicate capturing of the qualities of the various objects.