Frans Hals is a great portrait painter

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Frans Hals (1582-1666) is one of the greatest portrait painters of the golden age of Dutch art. He was very popular, he had many orders and students, but the artist died in complete poverty in a poor shelter. This is how the life of a genius happened.

Frans Hals: biography

A little less than four hundred years separate us from the life of a great artist. But little is known about him personally. His father was a weaver in Antwerp, married with a second marriage, in which Frans Hals was born. The family then moved to Haarlem, which is about twenty kilometers from Antwerp. At the time of his birth, there was no peace in his homeland. Spanish troops besieged the city, took by storm, ravaged. Immigrants fled to Haarlem from all directions. The city grew rich and began to show great interest in art. Therefore, probably, Frans Hals almost never left Haarlem. Having learned the profession, accepted into the Guild of St. Luke, which at that time was an analogue of the Academy of Painting, young Hals becomes a restorer to begin with.

After six years, he becomes famous as a portrait painter. And he's getting married a year later. The marriage will produce five sons, andeveryone will follow in the footsteps of their father - they will become portrait painters. The peak of the popularity and flourishing of the creativity of the genius falls on the years 1620-1640. But then it starts to be forgotten. Thus passes the fame of a painter named Frans Hals. Paintings are almost never ordered. Poverty is approaching, which leads the master to the almshouse. In it he dies. In the Hermitage you can see two male portraits painted by the great artist.

Portrait of an unknown person (1650-1652)

The stingy color scheme, to which Frans Hals comes in these years, allows you to fully focus on the face of the depicted person. The model's wide white collar further draws attention to facial expressions. A well-groomed man with long curly hair and a mustache looks calmly and confidently at the viewer.

He is we althy and independent, mocking and perhaps full of aplomb. His posture is natural and relaxed. No perturbations in life threaten him. He clearly knows how to cope with any life situations. The portrait does not give the impression of a frozen, static. The artist gets this effect of dynamics due to the fact that the model is close to the viewer, the gaze is directed directly at him, and the elbow of the hand on which the person is leaning is pushed forward. She "torn" a flat canvas. It was a step forward into the future from the portraiture of his time.

Portrait of a young man with a glove in his hand (1650)

The model gives the impression of calm self-confidence and cheerfulness. The gaze directed at the viewer is full of attention, interest and goodwill.

A slight smile plays on the lips. Noticeable thick strokes of undiluted paint simply “sculpted” the face of the model. A white lace collar, illuminated hair and a glove are written in the same technique. But the background and shadows are painted with translucent paint. Thus, the figure protrudes from the canvas in relief and approaches the viewer. Accurately and skillfully calculated all the movements of the brush. This achieves the creation of a complete image.

Portrait of Isabella Kooymans (1689)

Without going deep into psychologism, the artist Frans Hals paints a young, chubby, pretty, benevolent and ingenuous woman. This is a we althy customer, and the painter puts all his skill to show jewelry and luxurious expensive clothes. With extraordinary diligence, the laces of the collar and cuffs are written out. Satin bows and ribbons adorning the model's waist and collar shine, as well as translucent ribbons in her hair.

A shimmering pearl necklace on a slender neck and a bracelet on a graceful hand that holds a rose. It is impossible to look away from the satin of the dress, which is decorated with a light insert with lace on the hem. The portrait is made in golden brownish tones. The rich nuances of the color of the dark dress and the light background, the play of shadows make it possible to make the model convex, protruding from the plane of the picture. Despite all the splendor, the portrait has not lost its democratic character. It is in a private collection.

"The head of a boy in a beret" (1640)

The head is placed in a circle on a golden light backgroundchild. The circle immediately completes the portrait.

A brown-eyed child's attentive gaze is turned to something curious up and to the right. The artist reflects the moment, the living moment of life. It is captured by him and transferred to the canvas. The left side of the face is in shadow, which makes it possible to more clearly mold the oval of a young face and a chin with a dimple. The right one, illuminated by light, plays with a blush. Bright lips of a beautiful pattern are tightly compressed. The face is framed by light golden waves of short hair. Their large curls fall low on the forehead, showing the beauty of the shape of the eyebrows. A low bluish collar and a white frill reveal a slender neck. The hair and beret repeat the originally given circle shape. The work is in a private collection in London.

In this article we tried to place the works of the master known and unfamiliar to the public. Feelings, emotions, intellect, and not a ceremonial costume, first of all, the painter tried to convey. And therefore the artist turned his attention to facial expressions, gesture, posture. His artistic heritage, which is mainly located in his homeland, has gone far beyond its borders.