Frans Hals: Portraits of Jacob Pietersz Olycan and Aletta Hannemans (1625)

(Mauritshuis, The Hague, The Netherlands)

These 2 paintings are wedding portraits. Pictured left is Jacob Pietersz Olycan. He was a brewer and his family owned several breweries. Jacob also served in the St George Civic Guard of Haarlem, which Frans Hals also painted in 1627. Jacob married Aletta Hannemans in 1625. She is wearing a bridal stomacher called a "bruidsborst", worked with gold thread and showing various flowers symbolizing marriage. Her dress is called a 'vlieger' and she has a French fardegalijn, a wheel shaped device meant to extend the skirt. Around her neck she is wearing a starched linen figure-eight collar, and over her hair she is wearing a diadem cap with lace edging. She is holding a pair of embroidered bridal gloves and wears a wedding ring on her right forefinger. She is also wearing gold bracelets and lace wrist collars. Jacob died in 1638 after which Aletta continued the business on he own. These paintings are from 1625.