Meulen, Adam Frans van der Finally, the Flemish genre painting gave several battle painters, including one excellent one: Adam Frans van der Meulen (1632 - 1690), invited to the court of Louis XIV. Van der Meulen was an excellent colorist and the greatest master

Anatole France (1844–1924) writer... A woman must choose: with a man whom other women love, she will never be at peace; with a man whom other women do not like, she will never be happy. ...Only a free citizen has a fatherland; slave, serf,

France Anatole France (pseudonym; real name Anatole François Thibault) (1844–1924) - French writer, laureate Nobel Prize(1921). I thank fate that I was born poor. Poverty taught me true value gifts of life. To accomplish something great, we

Frans Hals(c.1580-1666) . At a very young age, France ended up in the Haarlem school of Karel van Mander, where he developed as an artist in an atmosphere of mannerism. In 1610 he was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke as a master genre paintings and portraits of boys.

We know little about his life. Apparently, this man, with his enormous talent, very willingly indulged in the joys of simple life.Hals was born in Antwerp, then moved to Haarlem, where he lived all his life. He was a cheerful, sociable person, kind and carefree. In 1610, Hals became a member of the Haarlem Guild of Artists, and in 1618 - a member of the chamber of rhetoricians and amateur actors.

Copy of self-portrait.

The famous artist Frans Hals is the true founder of the Dutch art school. Many of his paintings are on display at the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. The most famous of them is “Portrait of a Married Couple”, which was created in 1621-1622.

I was able to see the original of this painting. The canvas has a special attractive aura. There are always many spectators near the painting. It’s so nice to look at this happy couple.

Hals.Portrait of a married couple.

Previously, art historians tried to find features of the master himself and his wife in the models, but today many suggest that Hals depicted Isaac Massa, a merchant and cartographer who lived for some time in Russia, and his wife in the portrait. Canvas size, figures in full height, a fountain and a villa inspired by fantasy, all this is Hals's desire to write a work based on last word fashion.

However, the Harlem burghers who commissioned the portraits did not have even a shadow of the aristocracy necessary for such an occasion. Hulse portrays the family couple with enviable directness and spontaneity.

"For the first time in history portrait painting Hals forces his models not to pose, but to live and act on the canvas, as if capturing a person snatched from the flow of life, writes T. Sedova.

The artist does not seek to add grace to the man’s pose, but emphasizes his character, intelligence and a certain amount of sarcasm. He freely writes a fresh face, her slyness and simplicity. According to tradition, Khals attaches symbolic meaning to all objects. For example, it depicts a honeysuckle with a woman and a small sprig of thistle next to a man - which were symbols of fidelity at the time.

Frans Hals was the founder of Dutch realistic portraiture, whose artistic heritage its sharpness and power of capturing the inner world of a person goes far beyond the framework of the national Dutch culture.

Hals Cheerful drinking companion.

The portrait is the basis of the painting “Cheerful Drinking Buddy.” It is unknown whether it was commissioned or whether Hulse decided to make a portrait of a verbose drunkard. Light wine, soft folds of a snow-white lace collar, a dark hat. The magnificent coloring resembles a frame. "Drinking buddy" - folk type, which Hulse portrayed quite often at the time.

Portrait of a Man with a Glove. 1650 Hermitage.

An artist with a broad worldview, a brave innovator, he destroyed the canons of class (noble) portraiture that had emerged before him in the 16th century. He was not interested in a person depicted according to his social status in a majestically solemn pose and ceremonial costume, but in a person in all his natural essence, character, with his feelings, intellect, emotions.

In Hals’s portraits all layers of society are represented: burghers, riflemen, artisans, representatives of the lower classes, his special sympathies are on the side of the latter, and in their images he showed the depth of a powerful, full-blooded talent

An example of a strict portrait is “Maritge Voogt”, 1639. This is a portrait of an old woman sitting in a chair. Her dress and cap are clearly visible against the gray background. The artist's brushwork is confident and precise. The old woman looks at us with kind eyes and a thin half-smile. Hals paints a portrait, as if skimping on compositional means, bright colors and mobility of the brush.

Hals's early work includes remarkable portraits of Jacob Oleikan and his wife Aletta Hanemans. The owners hung similar portraits in the front room near the fireplace. There had to be symmetry in the paintings: the married couple stands facing each other, and the calm pose of the wife, as in a mirror, reflects the pose of the husband.

The master applies paints freely, sometimes leaving a slightly ocher-rubbed primer. In the painting of Frans Hals great place occupies a “handwriting”, quick strokes that make up a special, barely noticeable pattern throughout the entire space of the picture, cementing the unity.

In 1616, Hals created the painting Banquet of the Officers of the Rifle Company of St. George, where he completely broke with the then accepted patterns of such works. He groups officers into groups, gives them different poses, rethinking the group portrait genre.

Khals.Banquet of members of the City Guard Society named after. St. George

The work was such a success that the artist was literally inundated with orders. But he was more attracted to the life of the Haarlem taverns, where he found most of his sitters. The people in Khals’s portraits captivate with their vitality, health, cheerfulness and even a certain self-confidence, softened, however, by a share of good nature. Khals had troubles with his wife and was often summoned to court. But his fellow citizens forgave him for his recklessness; they were proud of their artist.

Narrated by A.V. Lazarev:

“I liked the portrait so much that soon new orders began pouring in. Hals, however, soon ceased to like all this. He was very annoyed by his customers. Everyone, taking a moment, demanded “out of friendship” to write it in the foreground and more noblely. Then the artist came up with a brilliant solution: the one who pays the most will be in the foreground! As a result, rich colonels were always in the foreground, then captains, then sergeants.

But the chain of command was sometimes broken. Young lieutenants turned out to have rich parents, and in Khals’s portraits these young people sat proudly next to the colonels.”

Frans Hals portrait of a young man in a skull

A young man with a skull is a typical work for a young Khalsa. He loved the relaxed, free and even impetuous gestures of his models. And the young man, holding the skull with one hand, directs the other in an impetuous gesture directly at the viewer.

And the roguish look of the young man, and the bright feather hanging awkwardly from his hat, and the whole joyful palette of the canvas rather speak of good joke than about painful thoughts. A loose brushstroke, lightly placed on the canvas, enhances this feeling of the joy of being.

The Laughing Cavalier, 1624

Hals loved when he could paint his paintings without restricting the movement of his brush by any conventions. He had his own picturesque handwriting, by which it is easy to recognize any of his work. According to one critic, Hals threw brushstrokes onto the canvas as if he were quilting it. Some of Hals’s works might seem unfinished to some, but in the brushstrokes carelessly thrown onto the canvas you immediately recognize faces, figures, braided braids, and brittle lace.

Hals. Lady with a fan.

The Lady with a Fan, kept in the London National Gallery, is a typical commissioned portrait: there are no fortune tellers or drinkers here, which the artist so loved to depict.

A young charming woman looks at us from the canvas with a slight smile. She is in a strict black dress, which is decorated only with a snow-white lace collar and cuffs.

Particularly captivating is her soft, sweet face, which seems to float out of the neutral background, her eyes, emitting a warm and gentle light, her slightly snub-nosed, finely outlined nose, as if emphasizing her charming smile. Everything about this woman is simple and everything is beautiful.

Hals France, Group portrait of the trustees of Harlem women's house for the elderly, 1664, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem

Hals's highest achievement is his last group portraits of the regents and regents (trustees) of a nursing home, executed in 1664, two years before the death of the artist, who graduated alone life path at the shelter. Full of vanity, cold and devastated, power-hungry and arrogant, the old trustees sitting at the table from the group “Portrait of the Regents of a Home for the Elderly” (Harlem, Frans Hals Museum.

The hand of the old artist unerringly accurately applies free, swift strokes. The composition became calm and strict. The sparseness of space, the arrangement of the figures, the even diffused light, equally illuminating all those depicted, help focus attention on the characteristics of each of them. The color scheme is laconic with a predominance of black, white and gray tones.

Regents of St. Elizabeth's Hospital

The period from 1630 to 1640 is the time of greatest popularity of the Khalsa. He is inundated with orders. His talent reaches unprecedented productivity - in ten years the painter painted 66 single and 3 large group portraits

Hals' late portraits stand next to the most remarkable creations of world portraiture: in their psychologism they are close to the portraits of the greatest of Dutch painters - Rembrandt, who, like Hals, experienced his lifetime fame by coming into conflict with the bourgeois elite of Dutch society.

Khas.Portrait Willem Heythuissen. 1625— 30

The pathos of the portrait lies in the model’s peculiar self-affirmation, which causes the artist to have an ambivalent attitude towards her. The theme of active self-affirmation of the individual was generally one of the leading ones in Hals’s work.

She has it deeply historical roots, arising as a result of the formation of a developed national and social identity not only of the Dutch burghers, but also of the entire Dutch people, who defeated the strongest enemy in the person of Spain , which ruled the Netherlands for a long time and caused untold disasters and suffering to the country.

Hals was one of the first to notice the feeling of legitimate pride of the new masters of the country, who broke the power of the nobles and now received it not by right of inheritance, but thanks to personal abilities and merits, and repeatedly embodied it in many portrait images in the twenties and thirties.

Portrait of Malle Babbe (early 1630s, Berlin - Dahlem, Picture Gallery),

An ominous owl looms in a gloomy silhouette on her shoulder. The artist’s sharpness, vision, gloomy strength and vitality of the image he created is striking. The asymmetry of the composition, the dynamics, and the richness of the angular strokes enhance the anxiety of the scene.

Frans Hals, who became famous primarily as a portrait painter, came from Flanders: he was born in Antwerp into a weaver's family. With the arrival of the Spaniards, his parents, like thousands of their compatriots, moved north and settled in Haarlem. Here Hals studied painting and in 1610 received the title of master - he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke.

"Portrait of a Man" Hermitage

In 1612-1615. Hulse served as a private in St. George's Fusiliers, and at the end of his service, his former commanders invited him to paint a group portrait of them (1616). The artist captured the shooters during a traditional banquet. There is order here. The officers - respectable middle-aged men, dressed in black uniforms and with bright scarves over their shoulders - are seated 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 rush, because such banquets lasted for several days), the younger ones are respectfully silent. The characters of all the characters - from the fat, complacent captain to the dashing standard-bearer - are conveyed by Frans Hals vividly and deeply. The composition is especially enlivened by the friendly or incredulous glances of the shooters, directed directly at the viewer.

"Officers of the St. George's Rifle Company" 1616. Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.

"The Laughing Cavalier"

"Portrait of a Man with a Glove" 1650 Hermitage

In the Hermitage, attention is invariably attracted 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). Khalsa is still attracted to strong, strong-willed natures, but the former exaltation is now replaced by secrecy inner life. Protruding from the dark darkness is the moving face of a stranger, in whom 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 tone.

Also in 1616, the artist painted a portrait of the fishmonger Corne 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 his reputation as an inveterate wit (the Dutch expression “to offer someone a herring” means “to ridicule”). The dark background of the portrait is enlivened by the perky inscription: “Who wants?”

A number of works by Khalsa 1b1b-1620. is dedicated to the theme of merry feasts and carnival revelry - he himself was definitely a fan of noisy feasts (to this day, invoices presented to the artist for the roasted bulls eaten by his family have been preserved 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, and snow peas on his neck and a young, lively beauty represent the meeting of Winter with Spring. The crimson face of the old man and the crimson dress of the girl with snow-white, intricately woven lace stand out brightly against the background of the raging figures of the mummers with faces smeared with soot.

"Merry Society"

Hals worked quickly - his painting is single-layer. In those days, artists first applied drawing lines to the ground, then covered it with colorful spots and finally “revitalized” the intended forms with highlights and shadows, and painted out small details. Hulse coped brilliantly with all these tasks at once. The master’s brush is unmistakably precise: every hair, dimple, fold of the collar of his models is depicted with a special, always unique stroke. He preferred dim ones, but warm colors: all shades of brown, pink, yellow.

To earn money, Hals often painted portraits of wealthy fellow citizens. This is the “Family Portrait of Isaac Massa and his Wife” (circa 1622). Merchant Isaac Massa was one of most interesting people Haarlem: he traveled a lot, lived for a long time in distant Russia, and more than once acted as an intermediary in Russian-Dutch diplomatic relations. A husband and wife are sitting in a park at the foot of an oak tree entwined with bindweed (an allegory of marriage). The Massa couple are true Dutch burghers: they settled down comfortably, not caring at all about external grace.

"Family portrait of Isaac Massa and his wife" Circa 1622 Rix Museum, Amsterdam

"Isaac Massa" 1635

In the 20s The master again made custom portraits of the shooting guilds of Haarlem. Compared to the heroes of the group portrait of 1b1b, the riflemen of the company of St. Adrian, depicted in 1623-1627, behave more relaxed, “without ranks.” The special advantage of this painting lies in the subtle harmony of colors. Brownish pink tone The walls are united by 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 the riflemen of St. George's company. The most expressive is the captain, who sits half-turned to the viewer and holds an upside-down glass, demanding a new portion of wine. We immediately meet our gaze with this dashing, merry fellow.

"Officers of the St. George's Rifle Company" 1627 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.

A different kind of characters are depicted in a group portrait of 1641 - the regents (trustees) of the Haarlem hospital of St. Elizabeth. These are still 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 live speech - those gathered explain themselves with glances and gestures. Hals's style of writing also changed: it became more restrained and strict. The master often uses gray and black colors. But they also conceal countless possibilities; it is not without reason that the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh noted that “Frans Hals has no less than twenty-seven various shades 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 depth of psychological characteristics. This is the portrait of Jasper Schade van Westrum, a judge from Utrecht, painted around 1645. A sad smile wanders across his young, intelligent but sluggish face, as if he were hiding a dangerous illness.

"Gypsy" 1628-1630 Louvre, Paris.

This is one of Hals's most charming images. The master sketched the portrait of the nameless girl with bold and precise strokes. Thus, he managed to vividly convey not only the facial features, but also the movements and facial expressions of the restless heroine.

"Regents of the Haarlem Nursing Home" Circa 1664. Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.

The main theme of Hals's late work is fatigue, internal dissatisfaction, and the bitterness of disappointment. Around 1664, he painted two large portraits, commissioned by the board of the city nursing home, of the regents and regents of this institution. The silhouettes of five old women in black dresses stand out sharply against the background of 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, vigor, the desire to live - to everything that Hals is used to valuing in a person. And yet they stubbornly strive to preserve their characteristics for future generations.

"Regents of the almshouse in Haarlem" 1664

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. The fashionable outfit of one of the regents looks like a parody in this realm of decline and decay. The artist painted his characters with a weakening hand, miraculously maintaining a sense of form.

In his old age, Frans Hals was left without a livelihood, so the city, in memory of his services, did not grant him a pension. When the master died, he was buried with honors in Haarlem Cathedral.

"Officers of the St. George's Rifle Company" 1639

"Portrait of Jacob Pietersz Olycan"

"Portrait of a Young Man with a Skull" 1628

"Portrait of a Woman"

"The Singing Boys"

"Portrait of a man holding a skull"

"Portrait of a Standing Woman"

"Portrait of a Man"

"Portrait of a Seated Woman"

"Portrait of Stefana Geradsa" 1652

"Jasper Schade"

"Isabella Coymans"

"Jacobus Zaffius"

"Paulus Verschuur"

"Portrait of a seated woman presumed"

1625-1630

"Portrait van Een Vrouw"

"Veselchak" 1627

"Nicolaes Woutersz van der Meer"

"Portrait of a Woman"

"Vincent Laurensz van der Vinne"

"Portrait of a Woman"

"Portrait of Willem Heythuissen"

"Portrait of Willem Heythuissen"

"Clown with a Lute"

"Portrait of Hendrik Svalmius"

"Boy with a Flute" 1626-28

"Nurse with Child"

"Two Laughing Young Men with a Beer Jug"

"Portrait of a Man" 1660-1666

"Portrait of a Woman"

"Evangelist Luke" 1623-25

"Paulus van Veresteyn"

"Portrait of Van En Vrou"

"Isaac Massa"

"Сlaes Duyst van Voorhout"

"Family portrait against a landscape background"

"Fish Seller"

"Fish Seller"

"Malle Bubbe" approx. 1630

We seem to hear the hoarse laughter of Malle Babbe, nicknamed the “Witch of Haarlem” (c. 1630, Berlin, State Museums). The innkeeper with the ominous owl on her shoulder grabbed her heavy beer mug, but something distracted her attention. Hals sees Malle Bubbe for what she is - a product of the dark, vicious, but indestructibly tenacious vitality. In the almost monochrome brownish-gray painting, long and short, thick and transparent strokes are deliberately sharp, rough, like prickly.

"Portrait of Pieter van den Broecke" 1633

"Gentleman in White" 1637

"Portrait of a Woman"

"Joueur de rommelpot avec six enfants"

"Frans Post" (Worcester Art Museum)

"Singer with a Flute"

"Lute Player"

"Pieter Tjarck Lacma"

Frans Hals is one of the representatives of the Golden Age of Dutch painting.

The Golden Age of Dutch Painting They call the most outstanding era in Dutch painting - the 17th century.
The most well-known representatives Dutch paintings of this time included Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jan Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch, Jan Havikzoon Steen, Gerard Terborch, Jacob van Ruisdael, Willem Cornelis Deuster and others. But the Dutch Golden Age was not limited to art. This is a period in the history of the Netherlands when the Republic of the United Provinces reached its peak also in trade and science.
In Holland in the 17th century. About 2,000 artists lived and worked. Most of them are usually called “little Dutch”. This term refers to the small size and intimate nature of their works. The "Little Dutch" worked mainly in three genres: landscape, still life and everyday genre, with a narrow specialization. Hulse was a portrait painter and played an important role in the evolution of group portraits in the 17th century.

About the artist

F. Hulse. Self-portrait. Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York (USA)

Frans Hals ((1581/1585–1666) was born in Antwerp into a weaver's family. In 1585, the Hals family moved to Haarlem (Harlem), where the artist lived all his life. The Frans Hals Museum operates in Haarlem - art museum, also known as the Museum of the Golden Age of Dutch Painting, founded in 1862. Paintings by many Dutch artists are exhibited and stored here.

Frans Hals Museum

In 1600-1603 the young Hals studied with Karel van Mander. In 1610 Hals became a member of the Guild of St. Luke and begins to work as a restorer at the city municipality.
His first wife died very early, and he lived with his second for about 50 years - they had 11 children, but family troubles, illness of children, carelessness of the artist himself in everyday affairs gradually led to the fact that the artist’s life became increasingly difficult and hopeless. “In his old age, Hals stopped receiving orders and fell into poverty. The artist died in a Haarlem almshouse on August 26, 1666.” (Sedova T.A. “Frans Hals” // Bolshaya Soviet encyclopedia, 1965)

The work of Frans Hals

Hals created his first portrait in 1611, but fame came to him after creating the painting “Banquet of the Officers of the Rifle Company of St. George."

F. Hulse “Banquet of officers of the rifle company of St. George" (1616). Host, oil. 175x324 cm. Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem)

This is the first monumental work Dutch painting XVII V. Just a few years earlier, a truce was concluded with the Spaniards, and the de facto independence of the country was recognized.
The era of heroic struggle had not yet been forgotten, so the Haarlem shooters are depicted with a degree of self-confidence, but with a natural sense of pride. They do not oppose themselves to the audience, addressing them kindly, as if willing to accept them into their company. Although this is a group portrait, individual characters are painted with vivid expressiveness: some are distinguished by their sense of self-esteem, others by mockery, etc.
The composition of the portrait is carefully thought out: against the overall dark coloring, the diagonals of colorful banners, red and white scarves, a white linen tablecloth, and a still life on the table stand out.
In the 1620s. Hals also addressed genre scenes, and to compositions on religious themes.

F. Hulse “Luke the Evangelist” (c. 1625). Oil on canvas. 70x75 cm. Museum of Western and Eastern Art (Odessa)

The painting depicts the Evangelist Luke writing the Gospel. Behind his back on the left is the symbol of the evangelist - a calf. The space of the room and attributes are barely indicated - all attention is focused on the character’s face and hands. The canvas is made in warm brown tones.
This is a rare example religious painting Khalsa.
The picture has a real detective story narrated in feature film"The Return of Saint Luke" (1970). But, of course, this cinematic story is somewhat diluted with fiction.

In his portraits, Hals also depicted ordinary people from the people. These portraits are imbued with bright vital energy, fun, love of life: “The Jester with a Lute” (1620-1625), “The Cheerful Drinking Companion”, “Malle Babbe”, “Gypsy Woman”, “Mulatto”, “Fisherman Boy” (all - ca. 1630).

F. Hulse "Gypsy". Louvre (Paris)

F. Hulse “Singing Boy with a Flute”

F. Hulse "Laughing Boy"

F. Hals “The Cheerful Drinking Companion” (1628-1530). Oil on canvas. 78x54 cm. Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)

Schegolski dressed man, happy from a certain degree of alcohol taken, seems to invite the viewer to share his joy with him, holding out a glass filled with wine and waving his hand. The portrait of a cheerful drinking companion is familiar to everyone to this day - this is “ eternal theme» life.

A painting to match this one F. Khalsa “Merry revelers”

The love for bright everyday characters, presented large and expressively, is a clear influence of Caravaggio.
But “Portrait of Willem Heythuissen” is the only full-length portrait of Hals.

F. Hals “Portrait of Willem Heythuissen” (1625-1630). Oil on canvas. 135x205 cm. Alte Pinakothek (Munich)

Hals liked to emphasize the pathos of self-affirmation in portraits of his compatriots. This statement especially applies to this portrait. This pathos arose as a result of the formation of the national and social consciousness of the entire Dutch people, who defeated the strongest enemy in the person of Spain, which had long ruled the Netherlands. Hals was one of the first to notice the sense of pride of the new owners of the country and repeatedly embodied it in many portrait images in the 20s and 30s.
“Portrait of Willem Heythuissen” is made as a ceremonial aristocratic portrait in the spirit of van Dyck, but there is also a certain parody and caricature in it: the posture is too proud, the elbow is too protruding, the sword is too far apart - everything is too much, which creates the impression of a caricature.
1620-1640 - the time of the highest popularity of Khalsa. And at this time he painted many double portraits of married couples: the husband on the left portrait, and the wife on the right. “Family Portrait of Isaac Massa and his Wife” is the only portrait where the couple are depicted together.

F. Hulse “Family portrait of Isaac Massa and his wife” (1622)

In 1644 Hals became president of the Guild of St. Luke, and in 1649 he painted a portrait of Descartes.

F. Hals “Portrait of Descartes.” Wood, oil. 19x14 cm. State Art Museum (Copenhagen)

Rene Descartes - French philosopher, mathematician, mechanic, physicist and physiologist, creator of analytical geometry and modern algebraic symbolism, author of the method of radical doubt in philosophy, mechanism in physics.
It should be noted that the people in Khalsa’s portraits attract people with their vitality, cheerful disposition, emancipation, and good nature. But, depicting people of different classes and having sympathy for everyone, Hals was still an artist who did not strive (or was not able) to penetrate inner world their characters. There is no psychologism or thoughtful study of the model in his portraits.
Most likely, Hulse was not very concerned while working on the portrait of Descartes, what kind of person sits in front of him.

Hals's later works were executed in a very sparse color scheme, built on contrasts of black and white tones: “Man in Black Clothes” (c. 1650-1652), “V. Cruz" (c. 1660), "Regents of the Nursing Home" (1664).

F. Hulse “Regents of the Nursing Home” (1664)

Van Gogh once said that Hals had “27 shades of black.” And this is very noticeable in this canvas. In the later portraits of the regents and regents of the nursing home, a mournful sense of the frailty of all earthly things prevails. Lethargy, senile apathy, static, gloomy colors - all this adds up to tragic images. In his paintings, the pure joy of being disappears, which was characteristic of his marital portraits and portraits painted in early period creativity.

Characteristics of the work of Frans Hals

Hals has an unusually free, sweeping style of writing, confident drawing, grayish but energetic and harmonious coloring, and amazing virtuosity in layering tones. In total, there are currently 164 of his paintings. His works are in various museums around the world: in the Berlin Museum, in the Amsterdam and Kassel galleries, in the Dresden, Vienna and London galleries, 3 works in the Louvre.
There are works by Hals in Russia: 4 portraits are kept in State Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
His work occupies an honorable place in Dutch painting. He had many students, among whom were his sons - five of Khalsa's sons became portrait artists.

February 21, 2013

The Republic of the United Provinces, or, as it is more often called, Holland, is the most advanced state in Europe in the 17th century. The people who won the Dutch revolution, threw off the foreign yoke and put an end to the feudal order, were full of energy and self-confidence. All this contributed to the rapid growth of the national economy and culture. Painting, which enjoyed enormous popularity in the most wide circles Dutch society. Hundreds of artists, often world-famous masters, painted paintings, usually small in size (hence the term “little Dutchmen”), to decorate ordinary rooms of townspeople and even peasants. Almost always these were paintings of secular content (Protestantism rejected icons) and of different genres.

Portraits by Hals

You can get acquainted with the art of the outstanding Dutch painter Frans Hals (1582–1666) in the Hermitage through the example of two paintings - "Portrait of a young man with a glove in his hand" and "Portrait of a Man". These works give an idea of ​​the new principles that Hals asserted in his work. The artist depicts his contemporaries in natural and relaxed poses and ordinary clothes, revealing their inherent national character traits - cheerfulness, love of life, self-confidence. Refusing a static vision of the world, Hals develops techniques that allow him to reveal the dynamic basis of the image (a half-length cut of the figure, its approach towards the viewer and “breaking” the plane of the canvas by moving the elbow of the person being portrayed forward, a gaze directed at us, the fleetingness of facial expression). The same purpose is served by the use of a new technique of applying paints to canvas - the combination of drawing and painting in one, characteristic of Hals. creative process, as well as the lack of fusion of strokes and smooth surfaces characteristic of the work of most Dutch portrait painters.

IN " Portrait of a man"(executed before 1660) shows the artist’s ironic attitude towards the model with her self-confidence, exaggerated aplomb and arrogance. The painting is masterfully and boldly painted with free, broad strokes applied with a large brush. The combination of bright spots of black and white is especially impressive in its coloring.

Frans Hals played an important role not only as a portrait painter, but also as a master everyday genre. A number of outstanding genre painters emerged from his workshop.

The portrait depicts the wife of one of the city's prominent dignitaries. Calm pose, strict

Treating the ancient legend with some naivety and directness, Jordanes depicts it as a scene

“The Last Supper” is a sketch for a painting kept in the Brera Gallery in Milan. Sketches

"Landscape" by Jan Brueghel the Velvet, dated 1603, is one of the

The feeling of consonance between nature and human life attracts in the painting “Madonna and Child”

The landscape gives the impression of a real spatial environment in which it unfolds

The heroes of the religious legend in the painting by the Venetian master are endowed with earthly full-blooded

The statue was commissioned by the master Duke Cosimo de' Medici in 1545, and nine years later it was

“Beheading of John the Baptist” by Sano di Pietro was part of a polyptych - large

The general course of the evolution of art in the Roman Empire led

In addition, the writer’s descendants were categorically against a museum dedicated to him. fictional character, refused

This discovery played a vital role in the study of history Ancient Egypt. On a stone found

The collection of the National Gallery is considered one of the best in the world. It's interesting that the building

The hall was conceived as a memorial and dedicated to the memory of Peter I. This was directly reflected in

A distinctive feature of this museum is that among its exhibits there are no works of sculpture, no graphics,

When starting to carry out the task set for himself, Tretyakov had a clear

The armor covered almost the entire body of the knight with movably fastened plates, the helmet completely protected

The works – “Lunch on the Grass” (1863) and “Olympia” (1863) – once caused a storm of public indignation

Crimson flames, the impenetrable darkness of the underworld, fantastic figures of ugly devils - everything

Despite the presence of a signature, it remains unclear who was the author of the Hermitage banner. There were several

This intimate everyday story, which does not claim any philosophical or psychological significance,

His powerful realism, alien here to external effects, captures us with a soulful

Young, beardless Sebastian, with thick curly hair, naked, covered only at the loins, tied

The ebullient temperament of the great Flemish master forced him to handle very freely

The real fame of “Venus with a Mirror” began with the exhibition spanish painting, hosted by the Royal Academy

A variety of shapes and colors, lively rhythm, a special major tone and bright decorativeness are inherent in each of these paintings,

However, the Master of Female Half-Figures has developed his own individuality