Portrait of a Woman in a Lace Collar

This painting illustrates Haringsi meticulous attention to detail and precise rendering of textures. The simple background and even illumination of this portrait allow for the showcasing of fine sartorial detail. The distinctive scalloped lace collar, accompanied by large accessories, also appears in a 1641 portrait by Rembrandt. As Harings worked in distant Friesland, he likely never saw Rembrandt’s portrait in Amsterdam. Haring’s painting thus documents the taste for this fashion in the northern part of the country.

Matthijs Harings

Harings was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He was born in 1667 to Haring Wilckes and Griet Tijsdr and was a relative of poet Gysbert Japicx. He himself married in 1621 in Leeuwarden to Lijsbeth Lenerts van Vlasmar. In 1634 in a document it is mentioned that he was Captain of the Civic Guard. In 1636 he was also Deacon of the Reformed Church and from 1641 to 1644 he was alderman of Leeuwarden.

He was mainly active as a painter in Leeuwarden from 1611 to 1667. For part of this period, from 1648 to 1650, the artist Cornelis Birdama was his pupil. Harings name was last mentioned in a deed on May 7th 1667, the year when it is believed that he died, when some of his outstanding loans were repaid.