Frans Hals: portrait of a distinguished gentleman and portrait of a sitting lady

• Frans Hals (circa 1580/1585-1666);
  portrait of a distinguished gentleman (1643),
  oil on canvas; height: 80 cm portrait of a sitting lady (1643)

These two paintings are donated as a pair to the Städtische Museum Stettin in 1863 from the estate of the brewery owner Scheefer. They are relocated to Coburg in 1945, together with the rest of the collection. Afterwards they go separate ways: the portrait of the gentleman is taken with the rest of the collection to the Pomeranian Foundation in Schleswig-Holstein, but the painting of the woman remains with two other artworks in the collection at Veste Coburg as a sign of gratitude for its efforts to preserve and maintain the cultural legacy from Stettin.

As fate would have it, the 'nearly' couple from the Stettin collection are now reunited in the Pommersche Landesmuseum in Greifswald. The portrait of a distinguished gentleman first goes to the Pomeranian Foundation in Kiel, before then being sent to the Pommersche Landesmuseum. The museum acquires the portrait of a seated woman 2013 in Coburg.

Strictly speaking, the two portraits are not pendants, as a restoration report of 1937 (Kaiser Friedrich Museum Berlin) confirms that their original formats were not precisely identical. It is likely, however, that they were adjusted to match in the 19th century, and that that they were exhibited after that as a pendant for almost one hundred years. This is evidenced by the portraits' identical frames.