Artwork story
About Petronella Elias (1648–1667) with a Basket of Fruit
The artist and artwork
Ferdinand Bol painted Petronella Elias (1648–1667) with a Basket of Fruit in 1657, when the sitter was about nine. Bol trained with Rembrandt in Amsterdam in the late 1630s and followed his manner through midcentury. By the 1650s he was an established portrait and history painter. This oil on canvas marks that change: Bol replaced much of his earlier Rembrandtesque darkness with a colorful, fluid style the Met describes as Flemish.
The world around it
Petronella sat less than a decade after the Dutch Republic's independence from Spain was recognized in 1648. Amsterdam's commercial society sustained a competitive market in which prosperous families commissioned portraits to preserve identity, lineage, and status. Her known name and dates connect the picture to that world: she lived only until 1667. Bol served such patrons while distinguishing his work from Rembrandt's. Brighter color and an outdoor setting answered changing taste without abandoning psychological presence.
A detail to notice
Petronella meets the viewer with a composed gaze while carrying an object almost as elaborate as her costume. A pierced silver basket holds peaches, grapes, leaves, and curling tendrils; it glints against her coral-red dress and golden wrap. The Met notes that Bol reused this basket in a 1661 double portrait in Antwerp, showing how a luxury prop could migrate between commissions. The fruit fills the lower left, while her pale face, pearl necklace, flowered hair ornament, and white neckline rise against a dark tree. Her hands support the basket instead of playing with it. Because the title preserves her birth and death dates, viewers now know what no one could in 1657: the poised child had only ten years left. Bol did not paint a memorial; he painted present status and vitality. Time changed the encounter.
Look closer: materials, scale, and subjects
The recorded object is painting made in Oil on canvas and held in the European Paintings department.
Recorded dimensions include 31 5/8 x 26 in. (80.3 x 66 cm).
Subject terms include Fruit, Girls, and Portraits. Treat them as guideposts, not a complete interpretation.
Collection history and public-domain source
The collection credit line is Purchase, George T. Delacorte Jr. Gift, 1957.
The individual artwork page and official image were verified as Public Domain on 2026-08-24.
No Context Gallery independently uses the public-domain image. The source museum has not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated itself with these products.
Research sources
See the products currently available with this artwork. Product choices appear only when the exact item is published, in stock, and available to purchase.
