- Maes, Nicolaes
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died Nov. 24, 1693, AmsterdamDutch painter.A native of Dordrecht, he went to Amsterdam с 1650 to study with Rembrandt, from whom he learned the Baroque style. Before his return to Dordrecht in 1653 he painted a few life-size Rembrandtesque genre scenes. From 1655 to 1660 he painted smaller domestic scenes, usually of women spinning, eavesdropping, reading the Bible, or cooking. In 1673 he moved permanently to Amsterdam and devoted himself to portraiture, abandoning intimacy and the deep glowing colours characteristic of Rembrandt for elegance and cooler tones reminiscent of Anthony Van Dyck. He was a prolific painter, and he achieved great success with his portraits.
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▪ Dutch painteralso called Nicolas Maasborn 1634, Dordrecht, Neth.died Nov. 24, 1693, AmsterdamDutch Baroque painter of genre and portraits who was a follower of Rembrandt.In about 1650 Maes went to Amsterdam, where he studied with Rembrandt. Before his return to Dordrecht in 1654 Maes painted a few Rembrandtesque genre pictures, with life-size figures in deep glowing colours. In the period from 1655 to 1660 Maes devoted himself to domestic genre on a smaller scale, retaining to a great extent the use of colour he had learned from Rembrandt. His favourite subjects were women spinning or reading the Bible or preparing a meal. He visited Antwerp between 1660 and 1670, after which he devoted himself almost exclusively to portraiture, abandoning intimacy and glowing colour harmonies for a careless elegance that suggests the influence of Van Dyck. The change gave rise to a theory of the existence of another Maes, of Brussels.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
