(1580 - 1666)
Frans Hals, who became famous primarily as a portrait painter, was a native of Flanders: he was born in Antwerp in the family of a weaver. With the arrival of the Spaniards, his parents, like thousands of compatriots, moved north and settled in Haarlem. Here Hals studied painting and in 1610 he received the title of master - he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke.
"Portrait of a Man" Hermitage
In 1612-1615. Hals served as a private in the rifle company of St. George, and at the end of his service, the former commanders invited him to paint their group portrait (1616). The artist captured the shooters during a traditional banquet. There is order here. Officers - respectable men middle-aged, dressed in black uniforms and with bright scarves over their shoulders, sit around the table; three young standard-bearers and a servant stand nearby. The senior ranks are engaged in a relaxed, unhurried conversation (they have nowhere to hurry, because such banquets lasted for several days), the younger ones are respectfully silent. The characters of all the characters - from the fat good-natured captain to the dashing dandy standard-bearer - are conveyed by Frans Hals brightly and deeply. The composition is especially enlivened by the friendly or incredulous looks of the shooters, directed directly at the viewer.
"Officers of the rifle company of St. George" 1616 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.
"The Laughing Cavalier"
"Portrait of a man with a glove" 1650 Hermitage
In the same 1616, the artist painted a portrait of the fishmonger Korne fox van der Morsch. A seventy-three-year-old man, a representative of a noble family, is depicted with a basket of herrings. He glibly praises his product. This strange composition, far from burgher stiffness, speaks not only of his profession, but also of the reputation of an inveterate wit (the Dutch expression “to offer someone a herring” means “to ridicule”). The dark background of the portrait is enlivened by the fervent inscription: “Who wishes?”. 
A number of works by Hals 1b1b-1620. dedicated to the theme of fun feasts and carnival revelry - he himself was definitely a lover of noisy feasts (the bills presented to the artist for the fried bulls eaten by his family have survived to this day in the archives). The heroes of his "Merry Society" (between 1616 and 1620) are participants in the Maslenitsa festivities. An old drunkard with a necklace of flowers, sausages, herrings, green peas around his neck and a young brisk beauty represent the meeting of Winter with Spring. The crimson physiognomy of the old man and the crimson dress of the girl with snow-white, intricate weaving lace stand out brightly against the background of the raging figures of mummers with faces smeared with soot.
"Jolly Society"
Hals worked quickly - his painting is single-layered. In those days, artists first applied drawing lines to the ground, then covered it with colorful spots, and finally “enlivened” the outlined forms with highlights and shadows, wrote out small parts. Hals brilliantly coped with all these tasks at once. The brush of the master is unmistakably precise: every hair, dimple, fold of the collar of his models is depicted with a special, always unique stroke. He preferred soft, but warm tones: all shades of brown, pink, yellow.
To earn money, Hals often painted portraits of wealthy fellow citizens. Such is the “Family portrait of Isaac Massa and his wife” (circa 1622). The merchant Isaac Massa was one of interesting people Haarlem: he traveled a lot, lived in distant Russia for a long time, more than once acted as an intermediary in Russian-Dutch diplomatic relations. Husband and wife are sitting in a park at the foot of an oak tree covered with bindweed (an allegory of matrimony). The Massa couple are true Dutch burghers: they settled down comfortably, not at all caring about external elegance.
"Family portrait of Isaac Massa and his wife" Around 1622 Rix Museum, Amsterdam
"Isaac Massa" 1635
In the 20s. the master again made to order portraits of the shooting guilds of Haarlem. Compared to the heroes of the group portrait 1b1b, the arrows of the company of St. Adrian, depicted in 1623-1627, are more relaxed, “without ranks”. The special advantage of this picture lies in the subtle harmony of colors. The brownish-pink tone of the walls unites everything: the deep black spots of camisoles and hats, the sparkling whiteness of collars, the colorful colors of scarves and banners.
Another group portrait from 1627 depicts riflemen from St. George's company. The most expressive is the captain, who sits half-turned to the viewer and holds an upturned glass, demanding a new portion of wine. We immediately make eye contact with this dashing merry fellow.
"Officers of the Rifle Company of St. George" 1627 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.
A different kind of characters are captured in a group portrait of 1641 - the regents (trustees) of the Haarlem hospital of St. Elizabeth. These are the same burghers, but their character has changed a lot. Dark figures form a closed ring around the table. The faces of the regents are serious and impassive: mutual understanding reigns here, but it seems that there is almost no sound live speech- the audience is explained by their views, gestures. The manner of writing Hals also changed: she became more restrained and strict. The master often uses gray and black colors. But they are also fraught with innumerable possibilities, not without reason the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh noted that "Frans Hals has at least twenty-seven different shades of black."
"Regents of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Haarlem" 1641 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.
Numerous portraits created by Hals in the 40s are characterized by a depth of psychological characteristics. Such is the portrait of Jasper Schade van Westrum, a judge from Utrecht, painted around 1645. A sad smile wanders on his young, intelligent, but languid face, as if he were hiding a dangerous illness.
"Gypsy" 1628-1630 Louvre, Paris.
This is one of the most charming images of Hals. The master sketched the portrait of the nameless girl with bold and well-aimed strokes. Thus, he managed to vividly convey not only facial features, but also the movements, facial expressions of the restless heroine.
The main theme of Hals' late work is fatigue, inner dissatisfaction, bitterness of disappointment. Around 1664, he wrote two large portraits: regents and regents of this institution. The silhouettes of five old women in black dresses stand out sharply against the chocolate-colored walls. The artist shows old age without embellishment: parchment faces, sunken eyes, dry lips, senseless anger, sadness about the past years... His heroines have already said goodbye to beauty, cheerfulness, the desire to live - with everything that Hals used to appreciate in a person. And yet they stubbornly strive to preserve their traits for future generations.
In the second portrait, the figures of the regents in black almost merge with the dark background. Their faces - both old and relatively young - are equally shapeless, flabby and indifferent. fashion outfit one of the regents looks like a parody in this realm of decay and decay. The artist painted his characters with a weakening hand, miraculously retaining a sense of form.
"Regents of the Nursing Home in Haarlem" About 1664 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.
In his old age, Frans Hals was left without a livelihood, so the city, in memory of his merits, gave him a pension. When the master died, he was buried with honors in the Haarlem Cathedral.
"Officers of the rifle company of St. George" 1639
"Portrait de Jacob Pietersz Olycan"
"Portrait of a young man with a skull" 1628
"Female portrait"
"Singing Boys"
"Portrait of a man holding a skull"
"Portrait of a standing woman"
"Portrait of a Man"
"Portrait of a seated woman"
"Portrait Stefana Geradsa" 1652
"Jasper Shade"
"Isabella Coymans"
Jacobus Zaffius
"Paulus Verschuur"
"Portrait of a seated woman presume"
1625-1630
"Portrait van Een Vrouw"
"Merry" 1627
"Nicolaes Woutersz van der Meer"
"Female portrait"
"Vincent Laurensz van der Vinne"
"Female portrait"
"Portrait of Willem Heithuissen"
"Portrait of Willem Heithuissen"
"Clown with a lute"
"Portrait of Hendrik Svalmius" 
"Boy with a flute" 1626-28
"Nurse with a child"
"Two laughing youths with a beer pitcher"
"Portrait of a Man" 1660-1666
"Female portrait"
"Evangelist Luke" 1623-25
"Paulus van Beresteyn"
"Portrait of Van En Vrou"
"Isaac Massa"
"Claes Duyst van Voorhout"
"Family portrait in a landscape"
"Fish Seller"
"Fish Seller"
"Malle Babbe" ca. 1630
"Portrait of Pieter van den Broecke" 1633
"Gentleman in White" 1637
"Female portrait"
"Joueur de rommelpot avec six enfants"
"The Flute Singer"
"Lute Player"
Pieter Tjarck Lacma
Frans Hals was a 17th-century Flemish painter, known for such canvases as "Portrait of a Man" and "Portrait of young man with a glove in hand”, exhibited in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, “Evangelist Mark”, presented in the State Museum. A.S. Pushkin in Moscow, "St. Luke", stored in Odessa Museum Western and Eastern art. The most large collection works of the great portrait painter is in the Museum of Franz Hals (Het Museum Franz Hals) Haarlem (Haarlem) in Holland (Holland).
Frans was born in 1582-1583 in the city of Antwerp. Parents - Adriance and Francois Frans Hals van Mechelen (Adriance, Francois Frans Hals van Mechelen), engaged in weaving.
The family moved to Haarlem in 1585, and all further fate Khalsa will be connected with this city.
From 1600 to 1603, Frans Hals took lessons from the Mannerist painter Karel Van Mander. Since 1610, Hals joined the Guild of St. Luke (Het Gilde Van St. Lucas). This Guild united restorers, masons, glassmakers, painters and performed the functions art school. Those who joined the Guild regularly paid membership dues.
At first, Frans is engaged in restoration work, but gradually begins to try to paint portraits. Many rich and noble families lived in the city of Haarlem, and already in 1611 Frans Hals completed work on his first work.
The beginning of the way
In 1615, Khals was talked about as a promising painter. He was glorified by the group portrait "Banquet of officers of the rifle company of St. George" (1616). This work is considered the beginning of the "Golden Age" of the Flemish visual arts. Critics note the clarity and relief of the figures in the first works of the artist, warm shades that convey the joy of the existence of the depicted characters.
In the 20s of the 17th century, Hals tried himself in different genres domestic scenes and paintings based on biblical stories. For example, images of the apostles Luke and Matthew (1623-1625, the paintings are in Odessa, in the Museum of Western and Eastern Art).
His favorite heroes in the 20s and 30s of the 17th century were the poor, ordinary citizens, people from the people:
- "Jester with a lute";
- "Boon companion";
- "Gypsy";
- "Mulatto";
- "Boy-fisherman";
- "Malle Babbe";
- "Smiling Cavalier", etc.
Even the holy evangelists are depicted as representatives of the common people, close and understandable to every viewer. Hals emphasizes the immediacy and charm of his characters, their ability to enjoy the simple moments of life. On each canvas there is a bright individuality, a complex character, interesting to the artist and representing the whole vast world of the soul of a commoner.
Democracy becomes the leading idea of the Flemish painter's work.
The favorite genre of group portrait during this period is being revised by the master: Hals turned away from the official poses of the characters, tries to depict them in a real setting, emphasizes their commonness, “humanity”.
So the artistic canvas begins to conduct a dialogue with the viewer, to arouse his keen interest. On the basis of such principles, the famous works of Hals were carried out:
- "Banquet of officers of the rifle company of St. Adrian" (1623-27);
- "Banquet of officers of the rifle company of St. George" (1627);
- "Group portrait of the rifle company of St. Adrian" (1633);
- "Officers of the rifle company of St. George" (1639).
Hals canvases represent all strata of society, real life pictures and real characters. Representatives of the nobility, military, merchants, vagabonds at the time of their everyday existence - all social types equally interesting to the artist.
Khals is distinguished by the ease and ease of writing, the temperamental manner of reflecting reality, the dynamism of images, and optimism.
Among the works of this period, the ceremonial “Portrait of Willem Heithuissen” stands out, where the character is depicted in full height in formal attire.
Hals creates in Haarlem, does not like to leave the city. There is a work that had to be painted in Amsterdam, started by the artist, but never finished, which is why it had to be completed by another master.
Glory
The peak of Hals' popularity is considered to be the 40s of the 17th century. It was during this time period, in 1644, that Hals was elected head of the Guild of Saint Luke.
In 1649, he paints a portrait of the philosopher and scientist Rene Descartes (Rene Descartes).
In the 40s, a greater number of paired portraits, images of spouses were created: the spouse on the left canvas, the spouse on the right. Such works use traditional symbols: flowers and plants near the characters are associated with loyalty and devotion.
On the same canvas, the husband and wife are only in the "Family Portrait of Isaac Massa and his wife" (1622).
The main feature of the paintings of this period is the deep psychological analysis, the desire to show the spiritual world of each person:
- "The Regents of the Hospital of St. Elizabeth" (1641);
- "Portrait of a young man" (1642-50);
- "Jasper Schade van Westrum" (1645).
The paintings of this period are recognizable thanks to the silver and shades of gray associated with immersion in the depths of the psychology of the characters.
Late period
About the final stage of Hals' painting career, they say that they used many shades of black and white. There are only a few colors in the works, at first glance they seem dim and restrained, but the artist works on chiaroscuro, halftones, contrasting colors:
- "Man in black clothes" (1650-52);
- "Willem Cruz" (1660), etc.
This period is distinguished by the master's philosophical reflections on life and its meaning. Many works are pessimistic and convey the tragedy of human existence:
- "The Regents of the Asylum" (1664);
- "The Regents of the Asylum for the Elderly" (1664).
On the Sunset creative way Hals writes almost nothing, the circle of customers is shrinking, and his old age is spent in extreme poverty and impending obscurity.
Character
Hals was a kind of comprehensively gifted and addicted. In 1616-1625 he was a member of the Department of Rhetoric, a kind of public association literature lovers. In this club, Hals acquired friends and like-minded people, as well as customers.
The testimonies of contemporaries characterize Frans Hals as an energetic, cheerful person, a lover of fun and jokes. Like his heroes, he loved merry feasts, noisy celebrations. This did not meet the strict requirements of the direction of Protestantism, which was then the leading one in Holland - Calvinism.
Listed negative traits character of the artist - straightforwardness, stubbornness, irascibility, disorganization. Such qualities greatly harmed Hals in life, did not allow him to break through to honors and glory.
Family and Children
Hals married for the first time in 1611 to a girl named Anetie Harmansdr (Anetie Charmander), in the same year the couple had a child. In 1615 Hals' wife died in childbirth, and a few days later the second child also died.
Thanks to the help of the guardian of his first wife, Hals joins the squad of militiamen - the squad of shooters of St. George, in which he is a musketeer from 1612 to 1624.
In 1617 he remarried Lisbeth Reyners. Despite the quick-tempered nature of his wife, they lived together for more than 50 years.
Frans Hals had 11 children. 5 sons became, like their father, artists, whose main genre was a portrait.
The last years of the artist's life were half-starved. Hals received a small pension from the municipality, but was indebted to the city's meat and bread merchants. Before his death, he ends up in a beggar's shelter.
The artist died in this orphanage on August 26, 1666. There were only a few people at his funeral. The house where Frans Hals ended his journey is now art Gallery his name.
Have read to the end! Please rate
A painter of the heroic era of Holland, Frans Hals belonged to the generation whose hands had built an independent Dutch state. The flourishing of national painting is associated with his name. Along with Rembrandt and Velazquez, Hals - Great master European portrait. His works are distinguished by bold novelty, powerful love of life. Like no other painter, Frans Hals owned the secret of conveying a lively smile illuminating the face, an instant gesture, a relaxed pose. Whether the artist portrayed the lower classes of society, poor fishermen, mischievous boys, dashing Dutch officers, or painted custom-made portraits of the prosperous bourgeoisie, everywhere he followed the truth of life in revealing the natural essence of a person, his character and emotions. Khals was especially attracted by active, cheerful natures, full of indefatigable energy. He loved to capture his subjects in action, in motion, in a specific life situation. The very surface of his canvases is permeated with the movement and trembling of colorful strokes. According to french artist and the writer Eugène Fromentin, "Hals' craftsmanship is incomparable, he knows it and loves others to see it."
Brilliant, reflecting his time, the work of Hals contrasted sharply with his largely prosaic, materially unsettled life. It is not rich in events and little known.
Hals was born in Antwerp, the son of a Dutch weaver, who returned to his homeland with his family in 1591. Hals studied painting with Karel van Mander in Haarlem, where he then lived and worked almost without a break. Khals enjoyed great fame during his lifetime, but died in poverty.
The famous works of the artist of the 1620-1630s are distinguished by a genre approach to the portrait, which initially did not have clearly defined boundaries. He observed these people on the streets, in the taverns of Haarlem, among the participants folk performances.
All in motion, the mocking “Jester with a Lute” (1624-1626, Paris, Louvre) is the embodiment of dexterity, fearlessness and ingenuity. The artist frankly admires the charming "Gypsy" (1628-1630, Paris, Louvre). She is not only pretty, feminine and perky; in the image of a girl, whose tender face glows with a sly smile, the elemental fullness of life is guessed. In every stroke, in soft brownish-gold, gray, pink colors- feeling of lightness, inspiration.
We seem to hear the raucous laughter of Malle Babbe, nicknamed the “Harlem witch” (c. 1630, Berlin, State museums). An innkeeper with a sinister owl on her shoulder grabbed a heavy beer mug, but something diverted her attention. Hals sees Malle Babbe for who she is - a product of a dark, vicious, but indestructibly tenacious life force. In almost monochrome brownish-gray painting, long and short, thick and transparent strokes are deliberately sharp, rough, as if prickly.
The image of fishermen (symbol of water) became popular in Haarlem, which was famous for its fishing. Hals repeatedly referred to this motif in half-figured genre portraits. A painting from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation depicts a left-handed fisherman playing the violin against a backdrop of dunes and a cloudy sky. His smiling face tanned under the sea sun. Black clothes, a white collar, a bluish hat are skillfully combined with brownish, gray-silver shades. However, this is not the best work Khalsa is something superficial, not characteristic of him verbosity.
On the contrary, the Merry Drinking Companion (1628-1630, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), written in a similar range of black, white and gold, is impeccable in composition, in a sense of plastic form and color rhythm. With a quick and light touch of the brush, the gentleman's clothes made of soft suede, small features, fluffy hair, a glass of wine in his left hand are conveyed. A dandy and heartthrob, he openly addresses the viewer and is extremely pleased with himself.
Over the years, the portraits of Khals become stricter and more restrained, in a more complex and deep psychological characteristics there is a touch of irony. The artist reveals aspects in people that he may not have noticed before. Images of children, music, festive mood are gradually disappearing from his work.
New tastes are being established in Dutch society. Successful businessmen and their well-fed families prefer lush, embellished images. old artist, burdened with a large family, a frequenter of Harlem drinking establishments with his careless life, is losing customers. Hals' late works are the pinnacle of his career; Versatile in characterization, portraits sometimes mercilessly reveal in models either narcissistic arrogance, or cold cynicism, or spiritual insecurity. Hals' painting style is changing, developing towards tonal harmony, an exquisite combination of black and silver-gray; the black tone itself is saturated with a richness of shades from coal to pearl gray. Flashes of white, pinkish and red color spots acquire a special sonority. Light, sweeping, careless strokes, as if shifted from their place, going to different directions freely mold the plastic form.
In the Hermitage, attention is invariably drawn to two male portraits by Hals. One depicts an unknown young man; his performance is excellent, but at the same time the master does not hide the fact that the person being portrayed is quite ordinary. A different impression is given by the late Portrait of a Young Man with a Glove in His Hand (c. 1650). The Khalsa is still attracted by the strong, strong-willed nature, however, the former rise is now replaced by secrecy inner life. The moving face of the stranger, protruding from the dark haze, in which one can guess life experience, self-confidence, fatigue, irony, seems in many ways mysterious, his spiritual world remains undisclosed. The portrait is distinguished by the rare beauty of painting with an abundance of color nuances in black.
Hals' art, enriched by the introduction of plot points, creating the impression of a continuous life flow in which sharply defined characters of people interact with each other, is exceptionally vividly embodied in his unsurpassed group portraits.
How independent genre corporate portrait has developed in Dutch painting almost a century earlier. In a naive and constrained composition, isolated portrait figures were arranged in horizontal rows. Rigid rules of representation persisted for a long time.
During the struggle for independence and the subsequent national upsurge of Dutch society special meaning acquired group portraits of officers of rifle companies - a military association of citizens, a kind of honorary burgher militia. Officers who had served together for several years were holding a final banquet. The holiday was distinguished by its scope and duration. A 1621 Haarlem City Ordinance ordered that it be limited to no more than "three or, at best, four days." In Holland, group portraits of foremen of various associations, trustees of hospitals, almshouses, doctors, whose profession was respected and appreciated, were also ordered.
Creating a group portrait as a special genre requires the artist to be able to achieve the unity of the entire group while maintaining the individuality of each participant. Not all even outstanding masters coped with this difficult task. For Dutch artists, who worked before Hals and adhered to the old rules, she was simply unbearable.
In the tradition of this genre, Hals said a new word, breathed into it fresh breath life. Throughout his work, he turned to group portraits, which deserved great fame. A large group of large canvases is now in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. In the first canvas, commissioned in 1616, “The Banquet of the Officers of the Rifle Company of St. George”, dependence on the tradition of his predecessors is still felt, the artist largely restrains his pictorial temperament. Decisive changes affected the group portraits of officers of the St. George Rifle Company (1639, Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum) and the company of Captain Reiner Reid (1633, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). Scenes no longer of an official banquet, but of a friendly feast acquire a free and unconstrained character here. The group of officers, it seems, was seen by the artist by chance, their poses are varied, their gestures are eloquent, the sunlight plays on black robes, white collars, multi-colored scarves and banners. The principle of intersecting diagonals emphasizes the asymmetry, picturesqueness and dynamism of the composition.
The characters of Hals are sincerely open to the viewer, inviting him to share their society.
A quick brush masterfully conveys matte silk, the depth of velvet, the brilliance of satin, the dense folds of starched collars, sparkling metal.
Over the years, Hals' group portrait also loses its sense of festivity, becoming more strict and static in composition.
But at the end of his life, at the age of eighty-three, the artist paints unprecedentedly bold, sharply breaking with the idea of external goodness, group portraits of the regents and regents of the nursing home in Haarlem. The works, unique for their time, are the pinnacle of Hals' creativity. Both paintings have darkened greatly with time, but the impression they create is unforgettable. This is a cruelly truthful image of the merciless destructive power of old age. A bunch of prim old women with sanctimonious, embittered, faded, insignificant faces and bony hands of greedy hands seem more organized, in the regents there is still a glimmer of attachment to the material side of life. In the portrait of the regents, on the other hand, there is an atmosphere of confusion, anxiety, compositional inconsistency of figures deprived of stability, their awkward postures, and chaotic gestures. The regent, who fixed a dull, bleary gaze on the viewer, makes a speech that seems incoherent. In the gloomy coloring, the only strong color chord is a pink-red stain of fabric on the knee of one of the regents, the edge of a book in the hands of the regent. The smear reaches the limit of freedom and mobility possible for Hals, the paint - transparent fluidity.
No wonder Hals later became the idol of the Impressionists. The influence of his non-contemporaries and students was enormous in the portrait, domestic genre, in the development of the principles of colorism.
Tatyana Kaptereva
Unfortunately, the exact date of birth outstanding portrait painter, the representative of the "Golden Age" of Dutch painting by Frans Hals is not known. Historians are inclined to believe that Frans Hals was born either in 1582, or in 1583. However, it is known for certain that he was born in the family of an ordinary weaver named Francois Frans Hals van Mechelen from his second marriage to a woman named Adriantier in the city of Antwerp.
After Antwerp fell in 1585, the family was forced to flee to the city of Haarlem, where, in fact, the future artist lived all his life. For three years, from 1600 to 1603, Frans Hals studied the art of painting with Karel van Mander. In 1610, he began to work in the city municipality as a restorer, while joining the Guild of St. Luke. Was married. It's funny, but his five sons followed in their father's footsteps, becoming portrait painters.
Portrait painting
Hals was a great portrait painter, no exaggeration. He used three types of portraits in his work: group, individual and portrait, close to genre painting. Group portrait. The group portrait expressed the revolutionary ideals of the young republic: freedom, equality, camaraderie, civil solidarity. Proud of their independence, cheerful, active faces of citizens and officers look natural, as if they were accidentally seen either during a feast or during some kind of meeting. The participants in the scene in this familiar atmosphere are devoid of stiffness, deliberate posing, they are free to reveal their feelings and characters. Such collective portraits demonstrated the comradely unity, interconnection and strength of people.
The combination of a sweeping, bold, juicy writing with intense shades of blue, blue, golden yellow, red leaves an impression of optimism, a life-affirming beginning. But at the same time, each of the characters is very individual, shown close-up, which does not violate artistic unity at all.
genre portrait
Early Hals in his genre portraits tends to depict models in close contact with the viewer in natural poses, with direct gestures and facial expressions, as if caught on the fly, and through these details convey the individuality of character and mood. These are his paintings "Merry Drinking Companion", "Leipzig", "Mulatto", "Amsterdam", "Smiling Officer". IN emotional state, full of dynamics, he captured the most characteristic, individually expressive features of the models, and saw in this a clot of captured life, the core of the image (“Gypsy”, “Malle Babe”).
individual portrait
Hals characters on ordered individual portraits devoid of internal concentration and self-deepening, they are expressive, because they "capture" the reaction to the environment and interaction with it. The dynamism of such portraits is also expressed in the typical turn of the figures, in the lines of silhouettes, in volumes that naturally merge with the background and in free strokes. Thus, the specificity of Hals's portraits consists in precisely noticed individuality, in vitality and immediacy of the image and improvisational manner of writing. Thanks to the emphasis on some detail or the “understatement” of another, the characteristic brushstroke and bright surface, even unremarkable models turned into a highly artistic image.
All portraiture of Hals has an internal unity. It can be called a collective image of a contemporary Dutchman. Portraits can show complacency, self-confidence, narrow-mindedness, but at the same time - energy, love of life, vitality, a certain prowess. And it is on these personality traits that the artist focuses his attention, and some unattractive features of the models seem to be relegated to a secondary role.
In the later portraits of Hals (30-40 years), sadness and thoughtfulness appeared, sometimes the artist slightly ironically over his characters. The joyful perception of a person, characteristic of him in previous years, gradually left his painting. In the 1950s and 1960s, Khals's portraits became more in-depth, filled with inner meaning. The portrait of an unknown person in the painting kept in the Hermitage demonstrates strength, life potential, but there is no joy and faith in him anymore. And although he is depicted in an impressive spread, with a mocking, slightly contemptuous look, skepticism and fatigue are seen in him.
In a different male portrait(Kassel Gallery), instead of the usual self-affirmation and bravado, apathy, seal and lack of internal energy are read. The male portrait, kept in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (1650 - 52), is the pinnacle portrait painting Khalsa. It immediately catches the eye that the person portrayed is “large-scale”, significant. The posture, the hand resting on the side, tightly closed lips - everything speaks of cold imperiousness, arrogant contempt, and immense ambition. But through his will and perseverance, through inhumanity and emphasized elegance, one feels satiety, spiritual emptiness, disappointment in life. This is also emphasized by the new for Hals color scheme of the portrait: on a dark olive background - a combination of black, silver-gray, white and flesh tones, instead of the previous bright, major ones.
During the last two years of his life, Hals painted several portraits of the trustees of a shelter for the elderly in Haarlem, where he was forced to live in his old age. In their images, he saw disappointment and submissive doom, spiritual emptiness and a lack of meaning in life. Until the end of his life, Hals showed dramatic power and psychological subtlety in his work. This is the uniqueness of the talented portrait painter Frans Hals.
The artist died in August 1666.
In the 17th century, Holland became a model capitalist country. She conducted extensive colonial trade, she had a powerful fleet, shipbuilding was one of the leading industries. Hard-working farmers, the Dutch managed to create such a dairy farm in relatively small areas of the earth that they became famous in the pan-European market.
At the same time, Holland during this period was also the most important center European culture. The struggle for national independence, the victory of the burghers determined the character of the Dutch culture of the 17th century. Protestantism completely supplanted the influence catholic church, so the clergy in Holland did not have such influence as in Flanders, Spain or Italy. Leiden University was the center of freethinking. The spiritual atmosphere contributed to the development of philosophy, natural sciences, and mathematics.
Painting experienced an extraordinary flourishing in the 17th century. The main achievement of Dutch art during this period is in easel painting. Man and nature were objects of observation and depiction by Dutch artists. Diligence, diligence, love for order and cleanliness are reflected in the paintings depicting the Dutch way of life. household painting becomes one of the leading genres, the creators of which received in history the name "small Dutch", either for the unpretentiousness of the plots, or because of the small size of the paintings (the paintings were not intended for castles, but for the living rooms of a city house), or maybe and for both. Despite this name of the Dutch artists, they were mostly major masters. Many painters worked in Holland. There was a kind of division of labor between them: many artists worked only in one narrow area. There are very few paintings on religious and mythological themes. The main customers were not the church, but the businesslike Dutch bourgeoisie, who wanted to see themselves and their lives in painting.
Although in the Dutch painting of the 17th century baroque features are still noticeable, it nevertheless remained restrained and thoroughly realistic, truthful.
The history of Dutch painting of the 17th century is perfectly demonstrated by the evolution of the work of one of the largest portrait painters of Holland, Frans Hals.
Hals works a lot in the group portrait genre. This is basically a depiction of rifle guilds - corporations of officers for the defense and protection of cities. In these portraits, we are captivated not by portrait resemblance, but by the ideals of the young republic expressed in them, the feeling of freedom, equality, and camaraderie. From the canvases of the 10-30s they look cheerful, energetic. enterprising people, self-confident and tomorrow("St. Adrian's Shooting Guild", etc.) Hals usually depicts them at a comradely feast, at a merry feast.
The large size of the composition, sonorous, saturated colors (yellow, red, blue, etc.) create a monumental character of the image. The artist acts as a historiographer of an entire era.
Individual portraits of Hals are sometimes referred to as genre portraits by researchers. usually the images appear here among familiar objects, in a familiar situation: portraits of state officials who decide state affairs; portraits of matrons with pink or yellow skin, in white caps, in black woolen or silk dresses, discussing the budget or almshouses. He painted portraits of respectable citizens in the family circle - husband, wife, child. He painted a drunkard drunk, an old fishmonger grinning like a witch, a beautiful gypsy whore, babies in swaddling clothes, a reckless nobleman, with a mustache, in boots and spurs. He painted himself and his wife, young lovers, on a sod bench in the garden, after their wedding night. He painted tramps and laughing boys, he painted musicians, he painted a fat cook.
In the portraits of Khals late period carefree prowess, energy, pressure in the characters of the depicted persons disappear. The color of his paintings becomes strict, almost monochrome. It is usually dark, black attire, with a white collar and cuffs, and a dark olive background color.
Two years before his death, Hals returns to group portrait. He paints two portraits - regents and regents of a nursing home, in one of which he himself found shelter at the end of his life. In the portrait of the regents there is no camaraderie, which was in the previous portraits. Models are disunited, powerless, they have cloudy eyes, devastation is written on their faces. The gloomy coloring (black, gray and white) is particularly stressed by a pinkish-red spot of fabric on the knee of one of the regents. So in the ninth decade, a sick, lonely and impoverished artist creates his most dramatic and most exquisite works of skill.
