Frans Hals

Frans Hals is one of the most famous European painters of all time and specialised in the genre of portraiture. He was born in what is now known as Belgium, but starred in the Dutch Golden Age.

The artist was a dominant force across the 17th century, contributing several classic paintings such as The Gypsy Girl, Laughing Cavalier and Laughing Boy. His style was remembered for how his loose brushwork was still evident on the canvas, even after each artwork had been completed. He would inspire a number of Dutch and Belgian artists who followed on soon afterwards and also a number of family members also became respected artists themselves. Hals started to receive some notable commissions as his reputation soared and he particularly liked producing portraits of wealthy individuals which would raise the profile of his career. Most of his work in this genre would be single figure portraits in a traditional style, but there were also a number of complex, multi-figure pieces which took much more time but also brought another avenue of interest to his oeuvre. Whilst his own work has fluctuated in popularity in the centuries that have followed since, as a member of the Dutch Golden Age, his career will always be afforded considerable exposure.

This region of Northern Europe, which at the time was known as the Spanish Netherlands, was well connected by sea all around the world and so a number of wealthy patrons were starting to appear. They sought the finest artists to produce portraits of themselves and their colleagues, bringing a level of early celebrity to those artists who were courted the most. Hals fell into that bracket and left behind a huge output of portraits by the end of his career. This was aided by the fact that he lived until his early eighties which was highly unusual in the 17th century, even for those living a relatively comfortable life. His impact is today served by a specialist museum set up in his name which contains a number of his major works as well as a selection of art from a number of related artists from around that period. His remaining pieces are dispersed widely across a number of European and American public and private art galleries.

An unfortunate downside of living so long is that over time his artistic style would fall out of fashion, leaving him unable to profit from his work. Eventually he would become destitute and relied on the state for a modest income. Some of his paintings were even taken by creditors as his debts soared out of control. Thankfully, his career is seen in a far more balanced manner today, and the highlights of his life are celebrated to the full. Frans Hals became a key component within the visual arts in the overall Dutch Golden Age and his portraits remains highly popular today. Exhibitions of his work remain fairly frequent within Northern Europe, as well as the US and there is also a considerable number of publications about his life and work dating back several centuries. Those studying the broader group during that period will always come across Frans Hals at one point or another, as well as some of those who he inspired in later generations.

Table of Contents

1. Early Life
2. Mature Period
3. Later Life
4. Artistic Style & Techniques
5. Frans Hals' Most Famous Paintings
6. Influence
7. Legacy
8. Related Artists

Early Life

The artist was born in the early 1580s in the Belgian city of Antwerp. At that time it was in a region known as the Spanish Netherlands. The family would move to Haarlem and it was here that Frans would receive his education. By his early thirties the artist worked as a restorer, with a consistent income but it was only a few years later that he started to release his own work for the first time. Some early success then allowed him to focus entirely on his role as a professional artist and move away from the more traditional paid employment which had looked after him up to that point. The artist grew in confidence and persuaded his growing list of patrons to visit him in Haarlem, allowing him to care for his family which would include two marriages, and a total of eight children. Hals enjoyed a successful period of several decades, producing a huge number of portraits of various patrons before finally his style started to lose favour in the latter part of his life.

Mature Period

Once his reputation had been established, the artist was able to capture the full array of society within his portraits. He would be commissioned to produce realistic portrayals of wealthy figures in his local community, such as Pieter van den Broecke and Isaac Massa, but he would also sometimes focus on the opposing end of success, with portraits of the working class. He even captured drunks though massaged their appearances with his own charming style that produced uplifting imagery. He threw away the idea of conforming to convention, and brought in new ideas which would influence the next generations of artists. Officers and guildsmen would appear in multi-figured portraits which were typical of the period but also offered some variety within his own oeuvre. He also was commissioned for a number of wedding portraits, in which the couple would have their own individual portraits made. He achieved such success that notable figures from outside Haarlem would agree to travel to see him in order to have their own portrait made. Few portrait painters would have even had the cheek to ask, and would relocate in order to make the most of opportunities elsewhere.

Later Life

Having achieved success so long, and become one of the most in-demand artists in the Northern Europe, tastes would change and evolve away from his own techniques. Sadly, the artist would quickly drop into dire straits, financially, as a result of this and he regularly was found fending off creditors in a similar manner to that of Rembrandt. Thankfully, his considerable achievements in Haarlem made him something of a local celebrity and even with his problems mounting there would be some financial support from the local council which allowed him to keep his head above water until he finally passed away in 1666, whilst in his early eighties. As a further sign of his considerable artistic impact, the Frans Hals Museum was set up in Haarlem, as a mark of respect for someone who chose to stay in the city when greater financial opportunities might have encouraged him to move elsewhere. He remains regarded as one of the most important contributors to the Dutch Golden Age.

Artistic Style & Techniques

Hals was remembered as someone who worked with a somewhat unique approach which was expressive and avoided being overly refined. Many of his flourishes of the brush would still be visible after each painting was finished and he made no attempts to disguise them. He did not like to overly plan or perfect his paintings and this led to a unique charm and character to be found within many of his portraits. It showed an inner confidence, in which the artist was able to close a work earlier than other, satisfied entirely with what he had created. Many of the lower layers of paint and sketching were not as precise as others would do, and he was happy to express himself and evolve a painting as more layers of paint were added. Some critics rejected this approach as 'slap-dash', but soon others became used to it and saw a positive in how Hals was leaving some of his own character on each canvas. Hals was perhaps best remembered as an artist who managed to capture life within his portraits, bringing incredible emotions out of his models that a viewer could easily connect to.

Frans Hals' Most Famous Paintings

The artist is certainly best known for his portraits. These included a large number of wedding portraits, which for a number of years provided Hals with a steady, reliable income. These included a number of pendant portraits, in which the lucky couple would appear in adjoining artworks. The most memorable artworks from his career would be a number of works in which the subjects oozed emotion and character, be it with a cheeky grin, a nod to someone outside the boundaries of the painting or some other informal atmosphere. He would produce many in this manner and even started to include members of society who were mentally unstable, an idea which would later be taken on by a number of French Romanticists. As his career developed Hals would move further and further into the prioritisation of emotion over precise form and this helped him to produce the best work of his career. See below for a small selection of the most famous Frans Hals paintings.

Influence

Frans Hals' style would influence many artists who followed. He offered an alternative method of portraiture which was less formal and many of the public quickly warmed to it. Some of the more stale poses from the past were replaced by a livelier appearance in which his model subjects might interact with people out of picture. It was more similar to modern photography than of portraiture from previous centuries. He is known to have influenced a number of artists such as Edouard Manet, James Whistler, Gustave Courbet and also Max Liebermann. They would have noted at how Hals worked fairly briskly on his paintings and never attemtpted to over work them as others would do. There would be a sketch-like quality to some of the details in his paintings, though from afar the whole piece would look majestic. This level of innovation, creativity and expression very much came to the fore in later centuries, with new art movements encouraging everyone to work in this manner. His informal poses also helped to evolve portraiture and again inspire others to re-think how they composed their artworks.

Legacy

Frans Hals became, first and foremost, a real hero within Haarlem. He chose to stay even when his career took off and this helped to raise the profile of the city. The award of a small pension plus the museum in his name which appeared several centuries later underlined the legacy that he left here. His unqiue approach to portraiture also helped to evolve the genre and breathe new life into what had become particularly traditional at the time. He also encouraged artists to express themselves without fear, and to avoid losing the charm of an artwork by attempting to achieve a level of perfection through endless revisions. Some notable names would make copies of his work in order to develop the same approach and even though his popularity waned for several centuries after his death, he has returned to the summit of European art in recent years, thanks to a number of high profile exhibitions. The Dutch Golden Age has much to thank for the early contributions of this significant master from the city of Haarlem.

Related Artists

Many members of the Hals family, under the influence of Frans, would become artists themselves. Most famous of all was his brother, Dirck, but additionally, five of the artist's sons would also go into the industry as well, to differing levels of success. The siblings were born over a period of seventeen years and so inevitably their styles would differ somewhat from one to the next, and the procession of artists started with Harmen Hals, before leading on to Frans Hals the Younger, Jan Hals, Reynier Hals and then finally, Nicolaes Hals. This sort of family dynasty has been seen several times within this part of Europe, with the Bruegels becoming the best known of all. Aside from his own family, there would also be a number of younger artists who took inspiration from Frans into their own careers, and some of the more famous of these included Jan Miense Molenaer and his wife Judith Leyster, as well as Adriaen van Ostade and Adriaen Brouwer. This region was possibly the most successful in Europe during the 17th century and Frans Hals was a major part of its achievements.