Sophie Ploeg

Detail of Johannes Verspronck, Portrait of Willemina van Braeckel, 1637. Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem My recent trip to the Netherlands included a visit to the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. This lovely museum in a seemingly quiet small 17th century street just outside the centre of town is just a delight to walk to. The town of Haarlem still shows an abundance in 17th century - Golden Age - streets and houses and so when you enter the little street where the Frans Hals Museum is you are already in proper 17th century mood. Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem

A quickie to break the series of long posts....it is a late night,  I am reading on Rembrandt and Johannes Verspronck. Here is a detail from Verspronck's ' Regentesses of the Haarlem Orphanage ', 1642. Frans Hals Museum , Haarlem, The Netherlands. She looks so calm, almost regal, yet so lifelike. Her collar is the brightest white yet her stare is what grabs you. Perhaps it is the only colour in the black and white composition that makes you focus on rosy cheeks' liveliness. She is young, but not so young as to be naive and has a steadfast maternal glance. Her collar is perfect and fine, neatly painted but finished with soft edges. Her gown sober and neat. She doesn't smile yet looks friendly. The brush strokes seem to echo this in their neat but soft approach. Johannes Verspronck, detail of "Regentesses of the Haarlem Orphanage" 1642 Frans Hals Museum Haarlem, The Netherlands