Frans Hals

Hals, Frans 

Born circa 1581–85 in Antwerp; died Aug. 26, 1666, in Haarlem. Dutch painter.

Hals’ paintings are noted for an intense interest in depicting people from various strata of Dutch society. His art reflects the spiritual uplifting experienced by the Dutch people as a result of the wars for their country’s independence. Using loose spirited brushstrokes, Hals greatly broadened the range of depicting human emotion and was able to record the character of his subjects vividly.

Hals was the son of a Flemish weaver. From earliest childhood he lived in Haarlem. He studied with K. van Mander from 1600 to 1603 and joined the artists’ guild in 1610. In 1616 he visited Antwerp. His early style, as seen in the Banquet of Officers of the Civic Guard of St. George (1616), reveals a passion for warm colors and clear modeling of form through the use of heavy brushstrokes. (All the paintings mentioned in this article, except as otherwise noted, are housed at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem.)

In the 1620’s Hals painted portraits and genre scenes, as well as religious compositions, for example, St. Luke and St. Matthew (both c. 1623–25; Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Odessa). In his portraits of the 1620’s and 1630’s Hals created a virtual gallery of Dutch types, painting portraits of members of various social strata, from the bourgeoisie (W. van Heythuyzen, c. 1625–36, State Museum, Vaduz) to the lower classes (Malle Babbe, c. 1630, Picture Gallery, Berlin-Dahlem; Gypsy Girl, c. 1630, Louvre, Paris; The Mulatto, c. 1630, Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig). To Hals the lower classes were the embodiment of the inexhaustible energy of human life.

During the same period, Hals reformed the group portrait, breaking with conventional systems of composition by introducing certain realistic elements that ensured a personal link between the painting and its viewer. His reforms are evident in Banquet of Officers of the Civic Guard of St. Adrian (c. 1623–27), Banquet of Officers of the Civic Guard of St. George (1627), Officers of the Civic Guard of St. Adrian (1633), and Officers of the Civic Guard of St. George (1639).

Hals’ portraiture of the 1640’s is marked by deeper psychological characterization, as seen in Regents of the Company of St. Elizabeth (1641), Portrait of a Young Man (c. 1642–50, Hermitage, Leningrad), and Jasper Schade van Westrum (c. 1645, National Gallery, Prague). Silvery grays predominate in Hals’ palette during this period.

Hals’ later works are executed in very loose strokes and with a limited palette based on contrasts of black and white. Examples are Man Dressed in Black (c. 1650–52, Hermitage, Leningrad) and W. Croes (c. 1660, Old Pinakothek, Munich). Some of Hals’ late works express a deep pessimism, for example. Governors of the Old Men’s Home at Haarlem and Lady-Governors of the Old Men’s Home at Haarlem (both 1664).

In old age Hals no longer received commissions for his work and became impoverished, dying in a Haarlem poorhouse. Hals had numerous pupils. Notable 17th-century Dutch masters influenced by Hals include A. Brouwer, the brothers A. van Ostade and I. van Ostade, and J. Steen.

REFERENCES

Senenko, M. S. Frans Khal’s. Moscow, 1965.
[Linnik, I.] Frans Khal’s. [Leningrad, 1967.]
Lazarev, V. N. Frans Gal’s. In Starye evropeiskie mustera. Moscow, 1974. Pages 119–55.
Descargues, P. Hals. Geneva, 1968.
Grimm, C. Frans Hals. Berlin, 1972.
Slive, S. Frans Hals, vols. 1–3. London, 1970–74.

T. A. SEDOVA