The Frans Hals Museum in the Dutch city of Haarlem recently celebrated its one hundredth birthday. The exhibition “Frans Hals: Eye to eye with Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian”, featuring paintings by the seventeenth-century Dutch painter Frans Hals, representative of the Golden Age, and the works of the masters who influenced him, commemorates this event. It has been twenty-five years since a Hals exhibition of this scope was on show.
Hals was especially talented at portraits; the natural posing and movement of his models , their cheerful expressions are exactly living, breathing people. The painting “Laughing Boy” (image left) is a portrait of a young boy smiling a toothy, innocent grin. In seventeenth century art theory, painting a smiling expression was considered incredibly difficult, but Hals skillfully expressed an attractive smiling face with a deft touch.
At the hall in the back of the museum, is collected Hals’ vigilante corps’ collective portraits. In the Netherlands in the 17th century, which had just achieved independence from Spain, citizens organized vigilante groups for the purpose of defense and maintaining public order. They would sometimes order group portraits from painters. When at first collective portraits were painted, many paintings showed every subject’s face neatly aligned, like in a group photograph, but gradually movement was introduced onto the surface of the canvas, and the scene of the corps members at a banquet became popularised. While capturing each member’s facial expression and personality, Hals also depicted the affable scene of comrades smiling and drinking together at a lively banquet. The banquet dining table, reproduced at the centre of the hall, leaves the spectator somehow in the midst of their banquet.
In the exhibition rooms, the works by Hals and the other painters dealing with the same motifs are on display in such a manner that they can be compared with one another. One set, among them, features “The Lute Player” that Dirck van Baburen painted in 1622 and the “The Lute Player” painted by Hals in the following year. Van Baburen, who underwent extensive training in Rome, is one of the artists who brought the Caravaggio school’s preferred themes, such as people playing music, or at cards, to the Netherlands. Hals, receiving this new motif from Baburen, went on to paint many portraits of people playing instruments. The person depicted in “The Lute Player” smiles with great playfulness, and seems to be enjoying the music from the bottom of his heart.
In recent years research has proved that Hals, who was active in Haarlem, had exchanges with his contemporaries. This exhibition is an excellent opportunity to learn more of the influential relationships of seventeenth century Dutch and Flemish painting with the likes of Hals, Rembrandt and Rubens.
The exhibition will be open until 28 July (the museum is closed on Mondays)
Hals was especially talented at portraits; the natural posing and movement of his models , their cheerful expressions are exactly living, breathing people. The painting “Laughing Boy” (image left) is a portrait of a young boy smiling a toothy, innocent grin. In seventeenth century art theory, painting a smiling expression was considered incredibly difficult, but Hals skillfully expressed an attractive smiling face with a deft touch.
At the hall in the back of the museum, is collected Hals’ vigilante corps’ collective portraits. In the Netherlands in the 17th century, which had just achieved independence from Spain, citizens organized vigilante groups for the purpose of defense and maintaining public order. They would sometimes order group portraits from painters. When at first collective portraits were painted, many paintings showed every subject’s face neatly aligned, like in a group photograph, but gradually movement was introduced onto the surface of the canvas, and the scene of the corps members at a banquet became popularised. While capturing each member’s facial expression and personality, Hals also depicted the affable scene of comrades smiling and drinking together at a lively banquet. The banquet dining table, reproduced at the centre of the hall, leaves the spectator somehow in the midst of their banquet.
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| The inner yard of the museu |
In recent years research has proved that Hals, who was active in Haarlem, had exchanges with his contemporaries. This exhibition is an excellent opportunity to learn more of the influential relationships of seventeenth century Dutch and Flemish painting with the likes of Hals, Rembrandt and Rubens.
The exhibition will be open until 28 July (the museum is closed on Mondays)
Frans Hals Museum
Groot Heiligland 62
2011ES Haarlem
The Netherlands
http://www.franshalsmuseum.nl/en/
Tuesdays – Fridays 10:00 – 17:00
Saturdays – Sundays 11:00 – 18:00
2011ES Haarlem
The Netherlands
http://www.franshalsmuseum.nl/en/
Opening times:
Closed on MondaysTuesdays – Fridays 10:00 – 17:00
Saturdays – Sundays 11:00 – 18:00
