Frans Hals

Frans Hals – Apprenticeship in Haarlem; first laurels as a portrait painter

Frans Hals was born in Antwerp between 1580 and 1585. The son of a cloth merchant, he emigrated with his family to Haarlem when his hometown of Antwerp fell under the rule of the Duke of Parma. Haarlem became entirely the home of Frans Hals; it was here that his younger brother Dirck Hals was born, who later made a name for himself as a painter of Realism, and here that Frans Hals received his basic training with the West Flanders-born painter Karel van Mander. His admission to the Haarlem Guild of St Luke is attested as the year 1610. He married his wife Anneke that same year, but she died in 1615 during the birth of his second son. Hals could only afford a pauper’s funeral as he lived his whole life in precarious economic circumstances. This even led to a court case against his nurse, who had to sue him for the living costs for his children. Despite these difficulties, his first important works were created during this time – a series of portraits for the Haarlem marksmen’s guild. 

Frans Hals’ art lured numerous patrons to Haarlem

Frans Hals felt so much at home in Haarlem that he almost never left the city. He actually did not have the need to leave, for he received more than enough commissions there: After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck died within a year, Frans Hals rose to become the most important portrait painter in the Netherlands. The characteristic trademarks of his style included his loose brushstrokes which suggested spontaneity to the viewer, as if the artist had casually thrown his paintings onto the canvas. His fame thus spread far beyond the city limits and brought him numerous important personalities as clients including the French philosopher René Descartes and the cloth merchant Willem van Heythuysen. As a portraitist, only Rembrandt was of equal stand, and his name was mentioned in the same breath as such greats as Vermeer. 

Feather-light pictures of eerie liveliness

Frans Hals was already considered one of the greatest portrait painters of the Dutch Baroque during his lifetime; however, due to the size of his family - he was married twice and had ten children - and the generally poor pay of portrait painters, he struggled with financial difficulties. Five of his sons also chose a career as painter, the most famous of which was his second eldest son, Frans Hals the Younger. His students included illustrious names such as Adriaen Brouwer, Judith Leyster, Jan Miense Molenaer, Adriaen van Ostade and Philips Wouwerman. The tremendous, almost eerie vibrancy that emanates from paintings such as the famous Malle Babba, the mad Barbara, also known as the Witch of Haarlem, make Frans Hals’ fame immediately understandable even for the modern viewer. 

Frans Hals died in Haarlem on 26 August 1666.