Nicolaes Maes

I had chance to see the Rembrandt exhibit at the Portland Art Museum on Saturday afternoon. I missed it in San Francisco in April and was pleased to know it will be here all summer. I've always been fascinated with the Dutch masters -- specifically Vermeer and I've spent more time at the Rijksmuseum than I'd care to admit admiring them.

The exhibit was titled 'Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art' and it was composed primarily of works by Rembrandt and his contemporaries. Amsterdam was the most influential city in the world at the time and a crossroads for culture and trade -- It must have been a great space and time for an artist to be inspired. I discovered a new artist ( new to me) named Niclaes Maes and it was exciting getting acquainted with his work at the exhibit. He was a student of Rembrandt and the similarities in style are striking. This one is called 'A Girl at the Window' and was painted by Maes in 1654. Something distracting seems to be capturing the woman's imagination in this moment and then it hit me that the same thing was happening to to me as I peered at the canvas before me; I wonder if there is a 350 year old thought experiment being delivered by the artist here. Next time I'm in the Rjksmuseum --I will need to research Maes some more.