including Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch in particular in the compositional arrangements of people in interior spaces. Maes' exterior genre scenes may also have been influential on de Hooch's courtyard views. Portrait painting In his earlier portraits Maes places his sitters who are typically dressed and presented in an austere manner against a dark background. Maes' mature style was formed during the 1660s and shows the influence of the Flemish style of portraiture created by van Dyck, which had been introduced into the Dutch Republic in the previous decade. From this time onwards, Maes employed staging and accessories often seen in Flemish portraiture. In the 1670s Maes' style further developed to reflect the lighter spirit of the times as he places his sitters in elegant gardens painted in light tones and with a free brushstroke. These later portraits emphasize the gestures and poses, as well as the clothes and hairstyles of the models. The stylistic evolution of his portraits shows the influence of developments in Flemish and French portraiture. Maes painted hundreds of portraits during his mature period. These were mostly executed in two standardised formats: the first used a small rectangular canvas to depict a half-length figure within a painted oval in a while the second used on a larger format to depict a three-quarter-length figure, who would be leaning against a prop such as a column, fountain or rock. The setting was often a terrace or garden against a sunset sky. He also created many group portraits of families or just children shown at full length amidst a landscape. During the 1670s and early 1680s he painted several portraits of children in the guise of mythological figures such as Ganymede, Apollo and Diana, either as single figure or in a family group. He further painted one group portrait of a guild, the Six Governors of the Amsterdam Surgeons' Guild (1680–81, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam). Selected works Portrait of Laurence Hyde, Earl of Rochester Christ Before Pilate (1649-1650) Portrait of Four Children (1657) Christ Blessing the Children (1652-1653) Portrait of Justus Criex (1666) Eavesdropper with a Scolding Woman (1655) The Idle Servant (1655) The Lacemaker (1649-1650) The Lacemaker (1655) Old Woman Dozing (1656) Portrait of a Woman (1667) Portrait of a Woman A Woman Spinning (1655) Apostle Thomas (1656) Woman Plucking a Duck (1656) Old Woman at Prayer (1656) Doing the Accounts (1656) The Eavesdropper (1657) Portrait of Jacob Trip