Portrait of a woman, possibly Maria Larp

This woman was most likely painted to mark a wedding. An old label on the back names her as Maria Larp, who married a Haarlem man, Pieter Tjarck, in 1634, and Hals seems to have painted him too, in a companion picture now in Los Angeles. Set into painted ovals, the pair would once have hung side by side and turned slightly toward each other. Hals was the leading portraitist in Haarlem at the time, and you can see why in the quick, loose strokes that catch the gold thread and lace at her collar without ever tightening into detail. Her cheeks are flushed and she looks straight out, as if caught in the middle of a conversation.