RKD STUDIES

Bibliography

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Levy-van Halm, J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer, Report concerning a preliminary technical investigation of paintings exhibited during the Frans Hals exhibition, held from May 11 to July 22 1990 in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem 1991Herckmans 1635E. Herckmans, Encomium calvitii. Ofte Lof der Kael-koppen, Amsterdam 1635Hofrichter 1989F.F. Hofrichter, Judith Leyster: a woman painter in Holland's Golden Age, Doornspijk 1989Hofstede de Groot 1893C. Hofstede de Groot, 'Judith Leyster', in: Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 14 (1893), p. 190-198, 232Hofstede de Groot 1907-1928C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten Holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, Esslingen a. N. 1907-1928Hofstede de Groot 1915C. Hofstede de Groot, 'Een portret van Jacob van Campen door Frans Hals', in: Oud Holland 33 (1915), p. 16-18Hofstede de Groot 1915-1916C. Hofstede de Groot, 'Frans Hals : Mansportret Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam', in: Oude Kunst 1 (1915-1916), p. 321-323Hofstede de Groot 1919C. Hofstede de Groot, 'Een nog nooit afgebeeld meesterwerk van Frans Hals', in: Oud Holland 37 (1919), p. 128Hofstede de Groot 1921C. Hofstede de Groot, 'Twee teruggevonden schilderijen door Frans Hals', in: Oud Holland 39 (1921), p. 65-68Hofstede de Groot 1924C. Hofstede de Groot, 'Some recently discovered works by Frans Hals', in: The Burlington Magazine 45 (1924), p. 87-88 Hofstede de Groot 1915C. Hofstede de Groot, Echt of onecht? Oog of chemie?, Den Haag 1925Hollstein 1949-2010F.W.H. Holstein et al., Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts ca. 1450-1700, Amsterdam 1949-2010Van Hoogstraten 1678S. van Hoogstraten, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst: anders de zichtbaere werelt, Rotterdam 1678Houbraken 1718-1721A. Houbraken, De Groote schouburg der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols., 's Gravenhage 1718-1721De Jongh 1975E. de Jongh, 'Reviewed work(s): Frans Hals by Seymour Slive: Frans Hals. Entwicklung. Werkanalyse. Gesamtkatalog by Claus Grimm', in: The Art Bulletin 57 (1975), p. 583-587De Jongh 1976E. de Jongh, Tot lering en vermaak: betekenissen van Hollandse genrevoorstellingen uit de zeventiende eeuw, ex.cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1976De Jongh 2007E. de Jongh, ‘Halsen van latere makelij’, in: Kunstschrift 2007, p. 30-39De Jongh/Vinken 1961E. de Jongh & P.J. Vinken, 'Frans Hals als voortzetter van een emblematische traditie bij het huwelijksportret van Isaac Massa en Beatrix van der Laen', in: Oud Holland 76 (1961), p. 117-152Judson/Ekkart 1999J.R. Judson & R.E.O. Ekkart, Gerrit van Honthorst: 1592-1656, Doornspijk 1999Kauffmann 1943H. Kauffmann ‘Die Fünfsinne in der niederländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts‘, in: H. Tintelnot (ed.), Kunstgeschichtliche Studien. Dagobert Frey zum 23. April 1943, Breslau 1943, p. 133-157Der Kinderen-Besier 1940J.H. Der Kinderen-Besier, 'Het kostuum der vrouw op het aan Frans Hals toegeschreven portret te Cincinnati', in: Maandblad voor beeldende kunsten 17 (1940), no. 8, p. 205-206Koslow 1975S. Koslow, 'Frans Hals's Fischerboys: exemplars of idleness', in: The art bulletin 57 (1975), p. 418-432Kugler 1847D.F. Kugler, Handbuch der Geschichte der Malerei, 2 vols., Berlin 1847Lammertse 2011F. Lammertse, De Vermeers van Van Meegeren: kennerschap en de techniek van het vervalsen, Rotterdam 2011Langereis 2001S. Langereis, Geschiedenis als ambacht. Oudheidkunde in de Gouden Eeuw: Arnoldus Buchelius en Petrus Scriverius, Hilversum 2001Lenz Muente 2008T. Lenz Muente, ‘Putting a name to the face: Frans Hals’s Portrait of a Man’, in: Collection Connection 15 (Fall 2008) (online blog)Liedtke 2007W. Liedtke, Dutch paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2 vols., New York 2007Liedtke 2017W.A. Liedtke, 'Portrait of Samuel Ampzing', in: The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 4th ed., 2017 (https://www.theleidencollection.com/artwork/portrait-of-samuel-ampzing/)Linnik 1959I. Linnik, 'Newly discovered paintings by Frans Hals', in: Iskusstvo 1959, no. 10, p. 70-76London 1877-1878Exhibition of works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School, ex.cat. London (Royal Academy of Arts) 1877-1878London 1888Exhibition of works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter exhibition, ex.cat. London (Royal Academy of Arts) 1888London 1902Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, MDCCCCII: the one hundred and thirty-fourth, ex.cat. London (Royal Academy of Arts) 1902London 1925National Gallery Trafalgar Square: catalogue, London 1925London/Amsterdam 2006F. Lammertse & J. van der Veen, Uylenburgh & zoon. Kunst en commercie van Rembrandt tot De Lairesse 1625-1675, ex.cat. London (Dulwich Picture Gallery) & Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) 2006London/Amsterdam 2023-2024B. Cornelis, F. Lammertse, J. Rinnooy Kan & J. van der veen, Frans Hals, ex.cat. London (National Gallery) & Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2023-2024London/The Hague 2007-2008R.E.O. Ekkart & Q. Buvelot (eds.), Dutch portraits: the age of Rembrandt and Frans Hals, ex.cat. London (National Gallery) & The Hague (Mauritshuis) 2007-2008Lubberhuizen-van Gelder 1947A.M. Lubberhuizen-Van Gelder, 'Japonsche rocken', in: Oud Holland 62 (1947), p. 137-152Maclaren 1960N. MacLaren, The Dutch School, London 1960Madrid 2020N. Middelkoop (ed.), Rembrandt and Amsterdam portraiture - 1590-1670, ex.cat. Madrid (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza) 2020Van Mander 1618K. van Mander, Het Schilderboeck…, 2nd ed., Amsterdam 1618De Marchi/Van Miegroet 1994N. De Marchi & H.J. Van Miegroet, 'Art, value, and market practices in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century', in: The Art Bulletin 76 (1994), p. 451-464Martin 1952W. Martin, 'An Unknown Portrait by Frans Hals', in: The Burlington Magazine 94 (1952), p. 359-360Martin 1971G. Martin, 'The inventive genius of Frans Hals [review of Slive 1970-4, vols. 1 and 2]', in: Apollo 94 (1971), p. 242-243Van Meurs 1617Johannes van Meurs, Icones elogia ac vitae professorum Lugdunensium apud Batavos, Leiden 1617.Middelkoop 2002N. Middelkoop, Kopstukken: Amsterdammers geportretteerd 1600-1800, ex.cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdam Museum) 2002Middelkoop 2008N. Middelkoop, De oude meesters van de stad Amsterdam, Bussum 2008Middelkoop 2013AN. Middelkoop, 'Citizenship and creativity: the Dutch group portrait in the seventeenth century', in: I. Sokolova & N. Middelkoop, Dutch group portraits of the golden age from the collection of the Amsterdam museum, ex.cat. St. Petersburg (State Hermitage Museum) & Moscow (Pushkin Museum), p. 20-43Middelkoop 2019N. Middelkoop, Schutters, gildebroeders, regenten en rgentessen: het Amsterdamse corporatiestuk 1525-1850, 3 vols., Amsterdam 2019Middelkoop 2020N. Middelkoop, 'Rembrandts Vaandeldrager' in: Maandblad Amstelodamum 107 (2020), p. 92-98Middelkoop 2024N. Middelkoop, ‘Review of: Frans Hals by Bart Cornelis, Friso Lammertse, Justine Rinnooy Kan and Jaap van der Veen,’ Oud Holland Reviews, September 2024 (https://oudholland.rkd.nl/index.php/reviews/134-review-of-frans-hals-2023) Middelkoop/Van Grevenstein 1988N. Middelkoop & A. van Grevenstein, Frans Hals: leven werk restauratie, Haarlem 1988Miedema 1980H. Miedema, De archiefbescheiden van het St. Lukasgilde te Haarlem 1497-1798, Alphen aan den Rijn 1980Minich 1774E. Minich, Catalogue des tableaux que se trouvent dans les galleries, salons et cabinets du Palais Impérial de S. Petersbourg, St. Petersburg 1774Mok/Stam 2023I. Mok & D. Stam, Haarlemmers en de slavernij, Haarlem 2023Montagni/Grimm 1974 E.C. Montagni & C. Grimm, L'opera completa di Frans Hals, Milan 1974Moes 1909E.W. Moes, Frans Hals: sa vie et son oeuvre, Brussels 1909Moes-Veth 1940A.J. Moes-Veth, 'Nog eens: twee portretten van Frans Hals', in: Maandblad voor beeldende kunst 17 (1940), no. 8, p. 202-204Molhuysen 1911-1937P.C. Molhuysen (ed.), Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek, Leiden 1911-1937De Monconys 1665-1666B. de Monconys, Journal des voyages de Monsieur de Monconys, Lyon 1665-1666Montagni/Grimm 1974E.C. Montagni & C. Grimm, L'opera completa di Frans Hals, Milan 1974Montias 1982J.M. Montias, Artists and artisans in Delft: a socio-economic study of the seventeenth century, Princeton 1982Montreal 1944Five centuries of Dutch art, ex.cat. Montreal (Art Association of Montreal) 1944Morelli 1890-1893G. Morelli, Kritische Studien über italienische Malerei, Leipzig 1890-1893Moonen 1700A. Moonen, Poëzy, Amsterdam 1700Nadler 2013S. Nadler, The philosopher, the priest and the painter: a portrait of Descartes, Princeton 2013Nadler 2022S. Nadler, The Portraitist. Frans Hals and his world, Chicago 2022Neumeister 2015M. Neumeister, Holländische Gemälde im Städel, 1550-1800 : Künstler geboren bis 1615, Petersberg 2005Newton 1704I. Newton, Opticks: or, A treatise of the reflexions, refractions inflexions and colours of light, London 1704.New Brunswick 1983F. Fox Hofrichter, E. Haverkamp-Begemann & J.J. Temminck, Haarlem: the seventeenth century, ex.cat. New Brunswick (Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum) 1983New York 1937Paintings by Frans Hals, ex.cat. New York (Schaeffer Galleries) 1937New York 2011W. Liedtke, Frans Hals: Style and substance, ex.cat. New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art) 2011New York 2012J. Shoaf Turner, Rembrandt's world: Dutch drawings from the Clement C. Moore collection, ex.cat. New York (Morgan Library and Museum) 2012Nordström 1957-1958 J. Nordström, 'Till Cartesius Ikonographie', in: Lychon 1957-1958, p. 194-250Oud/Van Oosterzee/Wigger 1999I. Oud, L. van Oosterzee, H.J. Wiggers (eds.), Nederlandse tekenaars geboren tussen 1660 en 1745, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum) 1999Pani 1940A.J. Pani, La segunda coleccion Pani de pinturas, Mexico 1940Paris 197...

... meines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig 1907-1950Van Thienen 1930F.W.S. van Thienen, Das Kostüm der Blütezeit Hollands 1600-1660, Berlin 1930Thoré-Bürger 1857T. Thoré (pseud. W. Bürger), Trésors d'art, exposés a Manchester en 1857 et provenant des collections royales, des collections publiques et des collections particulières de la Grande-Bretagne, Paris 1857Thoré-Bürger 1868T. Thoré (pseud. W. Bürger), 'Frans Hals', in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts 24 (1868), p. 219-232, 431-448Toledo/Brussels/Paris 2018-2019L.W. Nicols, L. De Belie & P. Biesboer, Frans Hals portraits. A family reunion, ex.cat. Toledo (Toledo Museum of Art), Brussels (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium) & Paris (Fondation Custodia) 2018-2019Trautscholdt 1957E. Trautscholdt, 'Zur Geschichte des Leipziger Sammelwesens', in: M. George (ed.), Festschrift Hans Vollmer, Leipzig 1957, p. 217-252Trivas 1941N.S. Trivas, The paintings of Frans Hals, London 1941Tummers 2009A. Tummers, The fingerprint of an old master: on connoisseurship of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings: recent debates and seventeenth-century insights, 2009Tummers et al. 2019A. Tummers et al., 'Supplementing the eye: the technical analysis of Frans Hals's paintings - I, in: The Burlington Magazine 161 (2019), p. 934-941Tummers/Wallert/De Keyser 2019A. Tummers, A. Wallert & N. de Keyser, 'Supplementing the eye: the technical analysis of Frans Hals's paintings - II, in: The Burlington Magazine 161 (2019), p. 996-1003Valentiner 1921W.R. Valentiner, Frans Hals: des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1921Valentiner 1923W.R. Valentiner, Frans Hals: des Meisters Gemälde, Berlin 1923Valentiner 1928W. R. Valentiner, 'Rediscovered Paintings by Frans Hals', in: Art in America 16 (1928), p. 235-249Valentiner 1935W.R. Valentiner, An exhibition of fifty paintings by Frans Hals, ex.cat. Detroit (Detroit Institute of Arts) 1935Valentiner 1941W.R. Valentiner, 'Jan van de Cappelle', in: The Art Quarterly 4 (1941), p. 272-296Valentiner 1935W.R. Valentiner, An exhibition of fifty paintings by Frans Hals, ex.cat. Detroit (Detroit Institute of Arts) 1935Valentiner 1936W.R. Valentiner, Frans Hals Paintings in America, Connecticut 1936Van Valkenburg 1958C.C. van Valkenburg, 'De Haarlemse schuttersstukken: I Maaltijd van Officieren van de Sint Jorisdoelen (Frans Hals, 1616): identificatie der voorgestelde schuttersofficieren', in: Jaarboek Haerlem 1958, p. 59-68Van Valkenburg 1961C.C. van Valkenburg, 'De Haarlemse schutterstukken', in: Haerlem Jaarboek Haerlem 1961, p. 47-76Veith 2011J. Veith, Memorializing the past: Jan de Bray and the construction of identity in seventeenth-century Haarlem, diss. New York University 2011Venturi/Orienti 1967M. Venturi & S. Orienti, L'opera pittorica di Edouard Manet, Milano 1967Waagen 1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 3 vols., London 1854Waagen 1866G.F. Waagen, Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien, 2 vols., Wien 1866Walpole 1747H. Walpole, Aedes Walpolianae or A Description of the Collection of Pictures at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, London 1747Walpole 1762-1771H. Walpole, Anecdotes of painting in England, 4 vols., Strawberry Hill 1761-1771Washington/London/Haarlem 1989-1990S. Slive (ed.), Frans Hals, ex.cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art), London (Royal Academy of Arts) & Haarlem (Frans Hals Museum) 1989-1990Watson 2002R. Watson, Cogito ergo sum: the life of René Descartes, Boston...

3.3 The personal circumstances of the painter Frans Hals

... re transferred to the Prinsenhof in 1625.220 There has been speculation whether these activities may have included treatment of the wings of the destroyed altar by Geertgen tot Sint Jans (c. 1465/1468-c. 1495) [32] that were kept there at the time.221 In any case, Hals’s involvement with the convent’s works of art suggests that he must have been familiar with the group portrait in the middle of the composition – the earliest group portrait in European painting.When a major lottery took place in 1641, Frans Hals was employed to value the prizes. On 27 May 1648 he had to act as joint arbitrator in a dispute regarding doubts about the authenticity of a painting by Adriaen Brouwer (1603/05-1638), together with Frans Pietersz. de Grebber and Cornelis Symonsz. van der Schalcke (1617-1671). The inventory of the estate of Conraet Coymans (1588-1659) states that on 24 April 1660 Pieter de Molijn (1595-1661) and Frans Hals undertook the valuation of the 29 paintings on the list. A valuation of five paintings is documented on 16 August 1662, done by Hals for the merchant Emanuel Demetrius. Together with De Molijn and Jan van de Velde II (1593-1641), Hals received the most bizarre commission for a valuation on 22 January 1629, when he was asked to provide a written report for the town of Haarlem on whether the prison cell of the painter Johannes Torrentius (c. 1588-1644) was suitable as a painter's workshop. Torrentius had been imprisoned for his membership in the banned brotherhood of Rosicrucians.222It seems likely that Frans Hals also dealt in paintings as a sideline, as documented for many Dutch painters from Rembrandt to Vermeer, and specifically in Haarlem for Frans Pietersz. de Grebber, Jan Miense Molenaer (1609/10-1668), Pieter de Molijn and Allart van Everdingen (1621-1675). For example, Hals bought several paintings at an auction in 1629 that had been organized by the painters Frans Pietersz. de Grebber and Andries Snellinck (1587-1653). His brother Dirck acted as guarantor for his purchases. In 1634 Hals successfully bid on a painting by Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) in Amsterdam, which he could not pay for immediately. It remains unclear whether he ever received it.223Two petitions in the painters' guild are known to have been supported by Hals. One concerned a collection of funds in 1638 to benefit the impoverished painter Polydanus, who was to receive a bed and bare necessities for being admitted to the Old Mens Almshouse. Another one dates from November 1642 and concerned a ‘recommendation to the mayor of Haarlem about the “entirely absurd and unfounded” application by the board of St Luke's Guild to restrict auctions of paintings’.224 Hals signed this missive together with Frans Pietersz. de Grebber, Cornelis van Kittensteyn (1597-1652), Salomon van Ruysdael (c. 1600/1603-1670), and Cornelis Hendriksz. Vroom (c. 1590/1592-1661). The problem was an oversupply of paintings that was to be restricted in the interest of the more affluent members of the guild. However, the painters who earned less were dependent on turnover that was as high as possible. Clearly, Hals belonged to the latter. His partisanship is also reason to believe that he received an indispensable part of his income from the sale of works for the open market. However, the petition argued that ‘liefhebbers’ would no longer be able to compete with the dealers driving up prices, and that new artists would not have an opportunity to sell.225In 1635 and 1642, Hals was reminded to pay his overdue annual fee to the guild. This repeated lateness did not stand in the way of him being elected ‘vinder’, that is, board member of the Guild of St Luke, on 18 January 1644. Nevertheless, Frans Hals ‘was guild official for only one year. Most of his fellow painters, like Salomon de Bray, Hendrick Pot, Pieter de Molijn and Pieter Saenredam, served many terms as dean or warden’.226Hals's production of pictures began in 1611 and can be traced until shortly before his death in 1666, spanning five and a half decades. The number and category of paintings that have been preserved varies per year: there are years without dated or datable pictures and others with one or two group pictures as well as a number of single portraits and genre scenes. Therefore, what has been preserved must only be a part of what Hals has created originally. In order to cover his and his family's living costs as well as material and rent for the house and the workshop – especially during the years when his family grew – Hals needed to generate a multiple of the 200 guilders annuity that he was to receive in his old age from the town of Haarlem beginning in late 1662. The only documented rental sum from Hals’s life can be found in the legal dispute between Hals and the widow of Willem Tas. In the court documents of 3 February 1640, payment for the month of May is mentioned as 66 guilders.227 It is not clear whether this was the current rent or a special agreement. Nevertheless, we can conclude that each month the painter needed a three figure sum of guilders at a minimum. How many pictures did he have to make and sell in order to reach this level?...

... artists. A nice example is offered by the set of tables with prices for various picture genres, subject matter and artists, that was published by Alan Chong in 1987.237 However, less is known about the production costs for portraits, which were directly tied to an individual and had only limited resale value. Just a single figure has been preserved in connection to a portrait commission for Hals, concerning the sum of 60 guilders paid by the Amsterdam civic guardsmen in 1633 (A2.11), plus a promised future payment of six guilders per person.238 This payment however, referred to a portrait in full-length and was set in connection with a contract involving additional costs, due to the location in a neighboring town. Hals receiving the commission was a great honor, since such commissions were usually restricted to local painters, or in the case of Amsterdam, painters based in the actual district. Hals's successful younger competitor in Amsterdam, Johannes Cornelisz. Verspronck (1601/03-1662), also received 60 guilders in 1658 for his portrait of the priest Augustinus Bloemaert (1585-1659), as a three quarter figure seated with both hands visible [37]. Indeed, this is also the only document for Verspronck's commission prices.239In the meantime, a second price has been found for Hals's portraits. Research into the architectural history of the Hofje van Heythuysen, a residential building for people in need, produced a receipt ‘to Frans Hals for a portrait of Heythuysen’ for 36 guilders. The amount was paid in 1653 for the portrait in the hofje's Regents' room (A3.24). The complex had been erected after Heythuysen's death in 1650 with funds bequeathed from his estate. The executors must have supplied the original picture from Heythuysen's private home for Hals's workshop in order to create a copy. This picture was bought from the hofje by the Brussels Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium in 1870. For a long time it was considered to be the original, but there are weaknesses in the detail compared to the earlier model. As in most cases of such replicas, it was therefore not executed by Hals himself but rather by an assistant in his workshop. Under the prevailing circumstances this would not necessarily have meant a reduction in price.240...

3.2 Changing perceptions of Frans Hals

... existence. Most of his over 80 years were spent in Haarlem, a commercial town that had soon recovered economically from the Spanish occupation in 1577 and grown in size through the influx of refug...

... f education and pleasure.178 Rather, since the beginning of the modern era, they were regarded as manifestations of a seemingly universal ‘aesthetic’ need shared by all humanity – ‘art’ designed for sensual pleasure and limited to sensual or emotional experience. ‘Art’ in the singular was being rediscovered as an independent field of spiritual human endeavor, and presented in a growing number of examples in recently founded ‘museum’ institutions.‘Art’ now appeared to be a magical gift of sensual impression that transcended its former representational purposes. Thanks to this gift, achievements of expression seemed to become visible beyond the boundaries of epochs and cultures. This timelessness was first perceived in the marble figures and idealized subjects of epochs such as Classical antiquity, and the Renaissance that imitated it, but in the course of the 19th century the idea of a universal production of ‘art’ an...

... itself’.181Hals’s surviving paintings, like those by Vermeer, were claimed as immediate precursors of modern painting, and therefore as tokens of a new, independently ‘aesthetic’ and innovative ‘art’-historic perception. This reinterpreting update elevated Hals and Vermeer, with their close connection to past reality, to the same rank as the equally ‘modern’ Rembrandt. The latter’s work had been appreciated for longer due to the fact that it had already met previous requirements for great ‘art’, based on Rembrandt’s achievements on the major stage of historical and religious scenes, both in his paintings and his widespread engravings. Nevertheless, portraits by the two Dutch masters shared a common destiny that warrants a closer look. They faded, as long as they were understood in their original intention. With each new generation, different events, people and objects moved to center stage. Over time, all inherited objects become gradually removed from the immediate sphere of living, and their purpose follows changes in requirements. In the long term, this happened to most 17th-century paintings, even if their message was to last beyond the day, such as philosophical instruction and moral guidance, or as powerful portraits of remembrance for formerly esteemed or feared figures. ‘Their very survival [was] subject to the vagaries of fortune as time and circumstance removed them from the original purposes for which they were made‘, as Frances S. Jowell wrote about Hals’ portraits and genre paintings.182 Very few remained untouched, nearly all lost their original frames, some were changed in format, others partly overpainted as they were adapted to some new decorative purpose. Restoration protocols supply a rich picture of the unselfconscious handling of preserved pictures. The catalogue part of the present publication lists the most severe operations on the pieces that were passed down to us. However, the largest part of the paintings that had become old-fashioned and unsightly was thrown out like other unused furniture, or left to slowly decay in attics or cellars, most likely a multiple of what is conserved today....

... of the Amsterdam Kloveniersdoelen. This room was ‘one of the premier locations in the city, where visiting dignitaries would be received and official dinners were held’.184 In 1715, the picture was moved for improved security to the Amsterdam Town Hall. Since many other civic guard and regents paintings also needed to be stored there, the available wall space soon became too small. Rembrandt’s painting was cut on three sides in order to precisely fit its new place in the Small War Council Chamber, and today it measures only 363 by 437 centimeters. ‘Until it was moved to a proper museum in 1815,185 the large canvas always hung in spaces that were used for various purposes. It looked down on hundreds of meetings of military men and politicians, receptions, auctions and other events of the kind that take place in banquet halls and government offices. It is no surprise that it was damaged. Conservators have counted sixty-three different tears and holes in the canvas’.186...

... t, Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth also took the trouble to personally copy works by Hals. However, even only a thorough study of Hals's painting had an unmistakable effect on a number of other painters. For example, Édouard Manet had visited Amsterdam and Haarlem in June 1872. When he exhibited his painting Le Bon Bock [17] in May 1873 at the annual Paris Salon, art critic Albert Wolff (1835-1891) remarked in the Figaro that the painter had ‘poured water into his bock beer’, thus tempering his aggressive style of painting.189 The painter Alfred Stevens (1823-1906) commented on this return to Old Master technique as follows: ‘Why water, it is pure Haarlem beer’. Other contemporaries took similar views of Hals's effect on this work by Manet, though he himself was offended by the comment.190Manet's picture shows the engraver Émile Bellot smoking his pipe in the Café Guerbois with a glass of beer in his hand. Hals's example is noticeable not so much in the brushwork as in the handling of the muted greys of the suit and in the momentary observation: the alert face with the slightly raised right eyebrow is turned towards the viewer. Simply comparing the passage around Bellot's eyes and that of Hals's Merry Drinker (A1.49) illustrates the connection between these works [18][19]. Manet's concentration on an ‘eloquent’ moment in combination with a painting technique that becomes less emphasized and more two-dimensional towards the edges is close to Hals's works, though focusing on an atmospheric painterly impression of what is seemingly unintentionally perceived, instead of the representative presentation in Hals's commissioned works and the demonstrative gestures in his genre paintings. This is tonal painting similar to other Realist painters such as Wilhelm Leibl, but also Salon painters such as Alfred Stevens and Mihály von Munkácsy....

... andscape 1265 florins, a Huysum still-life 2100 florins and a Jan van der Heyden was carried away for 1305 florins. At Locquet’s sale in 1783 at Amsterdam the portrait brought 247 florins, not an impressive price when we learn that an Asselyn fetched 626 florins and a Berchem was sold for 3000 florins.’205 At the Gildemeester auction in Amsterdam in 1800 the Laughing Cavalier fetched three hundred guilders, at the Brentano sale in the same town in 1822 it was 700 guilders, after all.206 The buyer in that sale, Comte de Pourtalès, was able to sell it in 1865 for the abovementioned price, another seventy-fold increase.207Such a result indicated the new caliber of ‘art’ as a universal event for humanity. Over the 18th century, man-made objects had gained a new currency that replaced the former ‘arts’ of representation. What fell into this category could achieve prices that could no longer be estimated by the masters of the painters guilds, who had been entrusted with valuations of pictures in the ‘old times’. Writers and ‘art’ critics had now taken on this task. Indeed, on 18 March 1782 a picture by the contemporary Jean-Baptiste Greuze, L'Accordée de village [25], whom Diderot had held in great esteem, achieved a price of 16.690 francs in Paris.208 At the same auction, Hals's Young woman [26] was still sold for 301 francs, a 55th part of the aforementioned sum.209 Today, both works are on display in the Louvre. Greuze's work was bought for the French Royal Collection in 1782, Hals's picture came into what was by then the national art collection through a donation in 1869.21020th-century sale figures in the millions merely demonstrate value shifts within the modern cultural segment of ‘Art’; they have become extreme today after more and more objects entered museums and thus moved out of the market's reach. Any high-level valuation of such testimonies to eternal ‘art’ is detached from the pre-modern market for those more or less expressive and thoughtful portraits and genre portraits whose low and hardly variable prices provided Hals with an income. It was an entirely different, narrowly limited, and hierarchically structured world that becomes evident in Hals's and his clients' personal circumstances....

3.1 An advanced state of research

... er with René Descartes (1596-1650).175 Equally revealing was the identification of the laughing Malle Babbe (A1.103), which turned from a workshop painting assessed with varying degrees of seriousness into a likeness of the actual person Barbara Claes who was arrested in 1646 for ‘immoral behaviour’ and locked up in the Haarlem workhouse.176 These and many more findings have enriched the historical context for Hals's works and changed our perception of the past.Slive was the first to readjust this perspective. His iconographical and biographical research of historical picture content provided a fresh and concrete view of Hals's portraits and genre paintings, while inspiring many subsequent individual studies. In his catalogue raisonné published in three volumes from 1970 to 1974, as well as in his descriptions of works in the exhibition catalogues of 1962 and 1989-1990 we encounter excerpts of historical reality as they had been perceived by Frans Hals, the astute observer of fleeting moments.177 Not only did the knowledge about individual persons and circumstances shift, the perspective on paintings and their makers also became increasingly historical. Admiration for timeless masterpieces and the genius of their creators was replaced by knowledge about the historical purpose of paintings, their market and the workshop production. The creators of pictorial inventions admired today are increasingly less isolated but understood more from within a historical and cultural context. Their works were not made as ‘art’ for future museum visitors, but for contemporary purposes and spiritual needs.Judging from the oeuvre known today, Frans Hals was a narrowly specialized painter who nevertheless repeatedly discovered visually appealing elements within his portrait commissions. This becomes particularly clear when browsing through the paintings in which his handwriting is discernible in the clothing, sashes, flags and weapons, and sometimes also on chair backs and in details of still life - as in the views of the tables laid for the Haarlem guild members or in the jugs and glasses of his drinking figures. The landscape backgrounds of his paintings were executed in a more minute manner and with less abstract visual effect by a number of equally specialized colleagues. Many of the backgrounds are attributable to Pieter de Molijn (1595-1661).The commissioned portrait was a fundamentally profane and affirmative undertaking, artistically subordinate to the great themes of the spiritual world. Ever since the 15th century, profane portraits had become customary as an independent pictorial category. The identity of the sitter was indicated by inscriptions, as well as coat-of-arms, dress, attributes, appearance and gestures. This formula continued up to the era of Hals. From the patron’s perspective, different purposes overlap: ‘memoria’, that is devotional prayer for the sitter’s soul by their descendants; commemorative praise by contemporaries and following generations; the cultivation of family tradition through depictions of ancestors and relatives; current societal representation; and, finally, decoration. As religious customs subsided over time, the increasingly illusionistic portraits in the 17th century became effective media for sitters to create monuments of their own status and power. Typical examples are the life-size, full-length portrait of the cloth merchant Willem van Heythuysen (1585-1650) from c. 1625/1626 (A2.6) t...

1.22 Frans I and Frans II

... . One wonders why the folds of the sleeve or the heavy right hand need to have such deep folds and outlines [341] [342] [343] [344]. In contrast to this coarse execution, Hals extrapolates his patterns from actual visual impressions. He succeeds in creating an accurate sketch regardless of its ephemerality. The imitator never truly experienced the visionary character of such moments, even though he sometimes manages to capture fragments of it. However, he lacks the precision in reducing a visual appearance to those elements which fascinate in the briefest moment of experience. This difference can be perceived distinctly across the picture production of the Hals workshop. Examples are the execution of hands, and just as clearly, the treatment of the strings and tassels on collars [345] [346] [347]. Yet nothing proves as challenging as determining the facial expression. The fleeting appearance of the Kassel face is modelled by means of tones of varying b...

... opy by Wybrand Hendriks (1744-1831) [351], created c. 1780-1820. Comparison of the same detail from the painting and the drawing illustrates the differences between the original appearance as reported by Hendriks [352], and the current situation, where the gradation of grey shades has become barely recognizable due to lead white saponification [353]. During the research and conservation of the painting it was discovered that the tablecloth, which is now dark brown, was originally green. It is not clear whether the seating cushions of the men were originally green or carmine red.119The cleaning and examination of the painting in the conservation workshop of the Frans Hals Museum in 2017 permitted the first inspection in a long time, of the darker areas of the costumes. Under strong lighting of the cleaned surface, the brushwork became visible in those passages. It revealed the handling in the black-grey areas of the clothing of the seated gentlemen, whose folds only seem coherent in the upper bodies of the three men on the right. In contrast, in the lower half of the composition and in the two sitters on the left the rendering is hard and anatom...

... t on the outer right hand edge. In contrast to all former group-portraits, the proportions of the hands and faces are no longer coherent: the hands of the man seated behind the table are too small, for instance.On closer examination of the faces in the right hand group, it is notable that some of the features were reworked. Softly rubbed paint covers the corners of the mouths of all three sitters, but also parts of the eyes, especially the shaded eye of the man seated in the center. There is also overpainting in the facial features of the regents at his right. Thick, impasto paint is apparent in the corners of the mouth, along the ridge of the nose and around the eyes. Zooming in closer to the face of the man outer right, we observe highlights and shadow lines that have been applied with a soft brush in most of the facial area, which are contrasted by more opaque revisions in and around the lips and chin, to the right of the nose and around the right eye. The lower lip has clearly been broadened by applying a light colored brushstroke over a seemingly already finished mouth [360]. The fact that these passages cannot be considered to be modern overpaintings is testified by the watercolor copy by Hendriks, which shows the face in an identical state, with the same kind of dark corners and greyish green mass of paint around the mouth. The area between the lower lip and chin shows details in the drawing which are now retouched in the painting [361]. In all these cases it seems as if accents that appeared too harsh have been concealed at later stage in the creation process. This hypothesis is supported by the sudden disappearance of the craquelure in these areas, as if being covered by a cloud. The painting must have been completely dry at the moment of such an intervention. It is conceivable that the corrections were carried out by the assistant who was involved in the execution of large areas such as the face of the man second from the left [357], and the costume of the seated man on the outer left [354]. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that these adjustments are fairly early corrections by a third hand, still carried out at the request of the patrons.To differentiate between these possibilities, we need to take an unadulterated autograph painting by Frans Hals from his later career as a point of reference. Strictly speaking, there is only one artwork which is suitable for this, as it is particularly well preserved and close to the group-portraits of the regents and regentesses in terms of execution: the small Portrait of a man in the Mauritshuis in The Hague [362]. The sometimes jittery, almost dribbling manner used for depicting the cast shadows and highlights in this portrait – clearly visible in the nose, mouth and chin – differs from the swift brushstrokes observed in other late works [363]. This suggests a later date of creation than that of the Portrait of Willem Croes in Munich (A1.128) and the Portrait of a man with a slouch hat from Kassel (A1.130). The handling matches with the application of the accents in the face of the seated regent in the far right in Regents of the Old Men’s Almshouse in Haarlem (A3.62) [360], and also with the rendering of the faces of the second and third woman from the left in its counterpart, the Regentesses of the Old Men’s Almshouse in Haarlem (A3.63) [364] [365]. The painterly style in these three...

... Regentesses of St Elisabeth’s Hospital in Haarlem of 1641 by Johannes Cornelisz. Verspronck (1600-1662).121 This information counteracts the frequently argued interpretation of the deserted and dark setting as a view into the realm of the dead. What appeared in copies by modern painters, in all book reproductions, and in many written interpretations as a ghostly appearance – Michel Foucault (1926-1984) described the picture as ‘one of the most distressing pieces ever painted in the West’ – can be reassessed in view of the formerly much brighter appearance.122 In addition, it can be reinterpreted in a sense that is closer to the contemporary 17th-century understanding. Even if the colors and lighting in Hals’s painting were chosen to be darker than in that of Verspronck, Wybrand Hendriks’s watercolor copy after the Regents of the Old Men’s Almshouse in Haarlem (D32) demonstrates that the background must be understood as a light colored – whitish grey or light ochre – internal wall. The sitters in their dark clothing stood out against it as distinctive silhouettes in both group-portraits of the Old Men’s Almshouse’s officials. What this may have looked like, can be seen in a suggested reconstruction of the original tonality and brightness of the Regentesses of the Old Men’s Almshouse in Haarlem [372].The differences in execution between the portraits of the Old Men’s Almshouse’s male and female governors suggest the paintings were commissioned in sequence. Since Hals’s autograph share in the female counterpart can only be observed in traces, and it is clearly discernible in the male group-portrait, it seems likely that the latter was created earlier. The achievements of the assistant, most likely Frans the Younger, can neither be traced any further than to these two final commissions. Judging from the contributions we can assign to him, this companion of the g...

1.17 Free compositions based on templates by Hals

... aracter we observe in De Wael’s hand, nor do we see anything resembling the playful contour between De Wael’s his hand and cuff. The young man’s face follows Hals’s manner of depicting merry musicians in terms of the figure type, its decoration and movement, as well as in the lateral lighting. Thus, it may be based on an initial design by Hals. Yet the colors remain waxy and the expression is comparatively rigid. The execution of the hair and the central facial area, the cuffs, and the collar is widely removed from Hals’s skilled craftmanship. With such a dependent work I would not dare to hazard an author. It is possible that the painter was Judith Leyster (1609-1660), as suggested by Hofrichter, but other assistants may also be considered.82 In any case, the painting cannot have been made before 1626/1627, when the Banquet of the officers of the St George civic guard was created.Further examples from the mid-1620s can be included in the comparison of the handling in the New York painting. A look at Young man holding a skull, now in London [261], is particularly instructive, as it additionally emphasizes the contrast between the joy of life in the present and an awareness of transitoriness. This monumental painting marks the apex of the impression that Caravaggio’s paintings had made on Hals, who became familiar with them in Haarlem via the Utrecht Caravaggists. The motif of the tips of the outstretched fingers and the oblique lateral lighting of the face, half of which disappears into the shadows, can be understood as a momentary capture of an intense visual impression. The moment in which the young actor – recognizable by his hat and the red peacock feather – is reciting something meaningful, as is testified by the skull in his hands, appears strikingly urgent. The supposed identification of the character as William Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) Hamlet therefore seems obvious, even though it is hardly likely that Hals and his Haarlem public were familiar with the English tragedy that was first performed by 1600-1602. The two faces in the New York and London paintings are comparable in the contrasts in lighting and the animated gestures. Yet their painterly execution is substantially different. In the London painting, the fine diaphanous hair and the streaky brushwork in the face are striking, as are the semi-transparent colors in the shadows and the limitation of opaque colors applied only to the narrow illuminated ridges and curvatures [262]. This variation in brightness and paint application differ from the uniformly dull execution of the New York picture. In addition, the latter includes errors of observation like the hard cast-shadow of the nose, the stretched mouth, and the exaggerated corner of the eye on the right [263]. In this example we encounter Hals’s panorama of pictorial motifs but not the style of his observation. Capturing the expressive moment proves just as unsuccessful as the overall rendering of the youthful facial features. ...

1.11 Representing movement

... Broeck in Amsterdam, valued at 48 guilders.37 This was a substantial price in Hals’s lifetime. After all, the commission in 1634 for the life-size and full-length portraits of the Amsterdam guardsmen of the Meagre Company (A2.11) stipulated a payment of 60 guilders per sitter. Hals’s painting depicts a fashionably dressed young man and a young woman in an equally expensive outfit, and captures the gaiety of these individuals as a beacon of vitality. Still, the details within the scene convey a moral message that goes beyond the representation of just a merry moment. The motif goes back to a 1597 engraving by Gillis van Breen...

... of the dog in the lower right corner is also carried out in a heavy-handed manner.42 Also lacking in inspiration is the execution of the long thin fingers under the dog’s head, which match the equally smooth fingers of the young woman on the shoulder of her beau [130] [131]. Continuing to her other hand and her laughing face, we can observe a design that is certainly by Frans Hals, even though the hard painterly execution is not and rather imitates his paint application. In this passage, the artist has modelled the face using ‘floating reflections’ and hard shadow edges, which results in coarse facial features [132]. These differences in painterly style can be observed well when compared to a female face that is fully painted by Hals himself during the same time, and bearing a similar message about restraining sensual pleasures [133] (A1.14). Neither the blue feather from the man’s hat nor the woman’s hair, her collar, or her cuffs display Hals’s brushwork. The only explanation for their visual appearance and the different lighting directions in the two faces would be the existence of individual preparatory studies by Hals which were transferred onto the painting in a slightly coarse manner. The ‘Halsian’ character of the motif is present, but as it were second-hand. A similar study, made directly in front of the sitter, must have existed for the face of the young man. The observation of a burst of laughter requires special concentration. While Hals’s artistic skill lay in capturing such brief moments, the sitter would have needed to maintain the same head posture while stimulated to laugh repeatedly until all involved facial features had been captured. For this purpose, the wit of the painter would not have been sufficient. A talented jester could conceivably have been consulted for producing such a short and pronounced emotion. For the less extravagant smile of the lute player in the Louvre picture, the process of observation and decisive recording would have been more straightforward. ...

... luminosity and color nuances in the hand in Young man and woman in an inn, but also the modelling gradations in individual depictions of finger movement, bring Hals’s work on this hand close to the representations of hands and fingers by Gerard van Honthorst (1592-1656), who had returned to Utrecht from Italy in 1620 and ran his workshop there ever since. There are two paintings by Honthorst which could have been direct models for Hals, both dated 1623: The concert and the Merry fiddler [136] [137]. Both offer spontaneous snapshots of unusual aspects of body movement and facial expression. Probably, the Merry fiddler, with its diagonal structuring and the arm stretched out far into the top right corner of the picture plane, was the essential source of inspiration for Hals’s Young man and woman in an inn. As with Hals, Honthorst’s figure is a laughing reveler in an actor’s costume and a feathered hat. The hand so prominently displayed would thus have been a particularly plausible everyday element of the pictorial motif [138] [139]. ...

... of the two merry drinkers from Young man and woman in an inn and The merry fiddler [140] [141]. The similarities go as far as the blue and white color scheme, the blue feather on the hat and the laughing face with an open mouth. Honthorst has precisely observed the effect of lighting on the changing luminosity of the surfaces and in the gradation of skin tones and fabric shades. In Hals’s painting the gradation of color and light transition has not yet been fully developed and this comparison illustrates why Honthorst was so admired and which elements of his style made such an impression on Hals. Nonetheless, Hals avoided the impression of metallic rigidity which is conveyed in the perfectly captured figures of the Utrecht painters – as must have been observed over a length of time by the artists. He was aware of the contradiction between an ever more convincing representation of typical spontaneous movement and the experience of transitoriness in such impressions. Therefore, he implemented the narrow, close-up view from the Utrecht half-length figure paintings, as well as the dynamic movements in foreshortened perspective which correspond to a momentary perception. He also adopted the emphasis on the light and shadow tones that stand out from the mere pictorial recording of the figure in lateral lighting, and which contrasts attractively with the objective perception of the object. Still, ...

... after similar details in contemporary works that are no longer extant. Another work by Honthorst from 1623 can be considered as a possible model for Hals: Singing flute player in Schwerin [145]. Just as the Merry violinist with a glass of wine...

1.10 A connection with Judith Leyster

... ence of Frans Hals on her paintings has been frequently referred to.30 Leyster’s first signed work dates from 1629 and doc...

... ate homes. The option to create detailed and time-consuming copies, as in the example of the Merry company or Young man holding a lily, was limited to painters’ workshops and dealers’ rooms. If pictures were copied there fully or in part, it was with regard to a commission or a plausible marketing opportunity. Because of this, the much repeated compositions reflect the interest of contemporaries in the visible aspects of human behavior.The study heads of laughing children and young fish sellers formed a particular repertoire of the Hals workshop, which met this interest in the 1620s and 1630s. This production was based on the master’s portrait sketches. Assistants would more or less rework and complete those to saleable paintings, as can already be seen in the examples of the Young boy in profile (A3.31) and the Laughing child (A3.6). The composition of the Boy with a flute, for which Seymour Slive lists a total of seven versions, seems only slightly supplemented.34 Four of these are roundels in the same size measuring c. 28 to 31 cm in diameter (A4.2.3a, A4.2.3b, A4.2.3f, A4.2.3g) and two more with a diameter each of 38 and 39 cm (A4.2.3c, A4.2.3d). In addition, there is another example of the same size in the first group in a diamond shape (A4.2.3e). But in spite of all similarities, none of these variants can be considered the prime, original model that inspired the remaining versions. Nevertheless, there is a superior execution of a highly similar face within a larger composition: Two children with a cat [119], signed by Judith Leyster and most likely dating from her earliest period. Dated paintings by Leyster are preserved from 1629 onwards, and therefore this picture was most often dated to c. 1629-1630.35 The close correspondence of the motifs in the two compositions casts new light on the work of Leyster in Hals’s workshop. Only there could she have found the model for the boy’s face, which appears accurate in every detail in her painting. She adapted Hals’s model by turning it noticeably to the left, thus aligning it within her composition that is based on a sequence of repeating diagonals. This arrangement follows examples by Frans Hals, from whom she borrowed the central motif as well. The result is her most ‘Halsian’ painting, which in turn became known to a wider public through an engraving by Cornelis Danckerts (1604-1656) (C15) and continued to make an impression in painted copies and variants (A4.2.3h).36 Clearly, the central motif borrowed from Hals was the main attraction, which also shows in later copies where Leyster’s figure of a second child was dispensed with [120] [121][122].With the Danckerts print, there is the unusual fact that it reproduces a signed painting by Leyster, yet is inscribed F. H...

1.5 An understanding of craftmanship

... ctions available to any number of interested viewers – on any screen in the world. A wealth of new impressions has opened up to us, which can be reconfigured through cross-comparison with the other pieces of the puzzle that are spread all over the world....

... ontrast, the woman must have been seated opposite the painter at eye-level. The sideways turn of her body does suggest the presence of a male counterpart which has not been identified up to now. Unlike the male portrait associated with it, the female representation is not in good condition. The painted surface is abraded and was flattened through reworking. The contours of the cheeks and the chin are blurred, as are the hairline and the contour of the bonnet, which was strengthened later by another hand [37]. Nevertheless, accents typical for Hals are still present in the modelling of the eyes, nose, and mouth. The shyly amused gaze and a hint of a smile enliven the face. In contrast, from the ruff down the handling is stiff and smooth throughout. The longstanding rejection of this painting was most likel...

... ception from the standard practice that applied to the time’s most successful artists – a group to which Hals did not belong. Especially court painters, who were of high social ranking, worked with assistants who enabled them to produce large-scale history paintings and portraits in numerous repetitions. Accordingly, we need to accept that in old master painting – that is European picture production up to the late 18th century – many famous masterpieces were not made by a single hand.We can put this statement to the test with a portrait which I excluded from my earlier catalogues because the awkward execution of the hand could by no means be by Hals, who was a fiercely precise anatomist of hands. However, Hals’s authorship is supported by the no doubt original signature and date, as well as by the inscription F. Hals pinxit on a copper engraving of the same composition, which also identifies the sitter [40]. It concerns the portrait of the Lutheran preacher Conradus Viëtor (1588-1657) painted in 1644 [39], and engraved after Viëtor’s death by Jonas Suyderhoef (1614-1686). A representation of a theologian with a book, usually a bible, was a traditional model adopted in many other portraits of clergymen. But in contrast to the powerful grip used by, for example, Johannes Hoornbeeck (1617-1666) (A1.116) [41] to hold his book, the hands in the present portrait are lacking in expression and appear anatomically incorrect, crammed into the composition at the picture’s lower edge [42]. Comparison with the same area in the print by Suyderhoef conforms that the hands as they are visible in the painting today, looked like this back in 1657 and have not been restored or overpainted since [43]. ...

... dress, as I could see them in illustrations at the time, caused me to reject the attribution to Hals entirely. However,...

1.3 Collaborations with other artists

... s typical for the era. The woman’s hand placed on her husband’s shoulder displays the engagement and wedding rings on her index finger – depicted through a cadence of brushstrokes which suggest a softly flowing movement [11]. Isaac Abrahamsz. Massa (1586-1643) is dressed up in the French fashion as an elegant man of the world and takes up a dominant position in the foreground. Still, Hals’s painting gives a stronger effect to the appearance of the woman. Her position in the center of the composition and the emphasis create...

... een recognized, and compared with his works from the same period, it suddenly become noticeable in other works by Hals and his workshop, but also in the 1627 Garden party by Dirck Hals (1591-1656) of which the full upper half was executed by Molijn [18]. There, we can observe larger leaves which still retain the same stamped-like appearance, but which are applied with separate strokes of a flatly applied pointed brush [19] [20] [21]. Additionally, in the present double portrait, the difference between Molijn’s tree backdrop and an area of foliage clearly rendered by Hals himself becomes apparent [22]....

... ). The subject was to be princess Granida with the shepherd Daifilo, an amorous couple from the since 1615 much-performed play Granida by Pieter Cornelisz. Hooft (1581-1647). The painting, which was completed in Utrecht in 1625, was intended for Frederik Hendrik’s country house Honselaarsdijk [25]. The composition of this brilliant work, and especially the motif of the tree behind the figures, lit from the left at an angle, are so close to Hals’s double portrait that a coincidence seems un...