Frans Hals is a Flemish painter of the 17th century, known for such paintings as “Portrait of a Man” and “Portrait of a Young Man with a Glove in His Hand,” exhibited in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, “Mark the Evangelist,” presented in the State Museum. . A.S. Pushkin in Moscow, “Saint Luke”, stored in the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art. The largest collection of works by the great portrait painter is located in the Franz Hals Museum (Het Museum Franz Hals) in the city of Haarlem in Holland.
France was born in 1582-1583 in the city of Antwerp. Parents - Adriance, Francois Frans Hals van Mechelen, who was engaged in weaving.
The family moved to Haarlem in 1585, and the whole further fate The Khalsa will be associated with this city.
From 1600 to 1603, Frans Hals took lessons from the Mannerist painter Karel Van Mander. Since 1610, Hals joined the Guild of St. Luke (Het Gilde Van St. Lucas). This Guild united restorers, masons, glassmakers, painters and performed the functions art school. Those who joined the Guild regularly paid membership fees.
At first, France is engaged in restoration work, but gradually begins to try to draw portraits. Many rich and noble families lived in the city of Haarlem, and already in 1611 Frans Hals completed work on his first work.
The beginning of the journey
In 1615, people started talking about Hals as a promising painter. He was glorified by the group portrait “The Banquet of the Officers of the Rifle Company of St. George” (1616). This work is considered the beginning of the "Golden Age" of Flemish fine art. Critics note the clarity and relief of the figures in the artist’s first works, the warm shades that convey the joy of existence of the characters depicted.
In the 20s of the 17th century, Hals tried his hand at different genres everyday scenes and paintings based on biblical stories. For example, images of the apostles Luke and Matthew (1623-1625, the paintings are in Odessa, in the Museum of Western and Eastern Art).
His favorite heroes in the 20s and 30s of the 17th century were the poor, ordinary townspeople, people from the people:
- "Jester with a Lute";
- "Boon companion";
- "Gypsy";
- "Mulatto";
- "Fisherman Boy";
- "Malle Bubbe";
- "The Smiling Cavalier" and others.
Even the holy evangelists are depicted as representatives of the common people, close and understandable to every viewer. Hals emphasizes the spontaneity and charm of his heroes, their ability to enjoy the simple moments of life. Each canvas has a bright personality, complex character, interesting to the artist and representing the whole vast world the soul of a commoner.
Democracy becomes the leading idea in the work of the Flemish painter.
The favorite genre of group portraits during this period was revised by the master: Hals abandoned the formal poses of the characters, tried to depict them in a real setting, emphasizing their ordinariness and “humanity.”
This is how the artistic canvas begins to conduct a dialogue with the viewer, arousing his keen interest. Based on these principles, the famous works of Hals were carried out:
- “Banquet of officers of the St. Rifle Company. Adriana" (1623-27);
- “Banquet of officers of the St. Rifle Company. George" (1627);
- “Group portrait of the rifle company of St. Adriana" (1633);
- “Officers of the rifle company of St. George" (1639).
Khalsa's paintings represent all walks of life, real life pictures and real characters. Representatives of the nobility, military men, merchants, tramps at the moment of their everyday existence - all social types are equally interesting to the artist.
Khalsa is distinguished by ease and ease of writing, a temperamental manner of reflecting reality, dynamic images, and optimism.
Among the works of this period, the ceremonial “Portrait of Willem Heythuissen” stands out, where the character is depicted in full height in a formal suit.
Hals works in Haarlem and doesn’t like to leave the city. There is a work that had to be painted in Amsterdam, started by the artist, but never finished, which is why it had to be completed by another master.
Glory
The peak of Khalsa's popularity is considered to be the 40s of the 17th century. It was during this time period, in 1644, that Hals was elected head of the Guild of St. Luke.
In 1649, he painted a portrait of the philosopher and scientist Rene Descartes.
In the 40s, a larger number of paired portraits, images of spouses, were created: the spouse on the left canvas, the spouse on the right. Such works use traditional symbolism: flowers and plants next to the characters are associated with loyalty and devotion.
A husband and wife appear on the same canvas only in the “Family Portrait of Isaac Massa and his Wife” (1622).
The main feature of the paintings of this period is a deep psychological analysis, the desire to show the spiritual world of each person:
- "Regents of the Hospital of St. Elizabeth" (1641);
- “Portrait of a Young Man” (1642-50);
- "Jasper Schade van Westrum" (1645).
Paintings from this period are recognizable due to the silver and gray shades associated with immersion in the depths of the characters’ psychology.
Late period
The final stage of Khals's painting career is said to feature many shades of black and white. There are only a few colors in the works; at first glance they seem dim and restrained, but the artist works on chiaroscuro, halftones, and contrasting colors:
- “Man in Black Clothes” (1650-52);
- "Willem Cruz" (1660), etc.
This period is distinguished by the master's philosophical reflections on life and its meaning. Many works are pessimistic and convey the tragedy of human existence:
- "Regents of the Asylum" (1664);
- "Regents of the Nursing Home" (1664).
At sunset creative path Hals hardly writes, his circle of clients is shrinking, and his old age passes in extreme poverty and encroaching obscurity.
Character
Hals was a multi-talented and enthusiastic person. In 1616-1625 he was part of the Department of Rhetoric, a kind of public association literature lovers. In this club, Hals acquired friends and like-minded people, as well as customers.
Testimonies from contemporaries characterize Frans Hals as an energetic, cheerful person, a lover of fun and jokes. Like his heroes, he loved merry feasts and noisy celebrations. This did not meet the strict requirements of the direction of Protestantism, which was then leading in Holland - Calvinism.
On the list negative traits The artist's character is straightforward, stubborn, hot-tempered, disorganized. Such qualities greatly harmed Khals in life and did not allow him to achieve honors and fame.
Family and children
Hals first married in 1611 to a girl named Anetie Charmander, and in the same year the couple had a child. In 1615, Khalsa's wife died in childbirth, and a few days later the second child also died.
Thanks to the help of his first wife's guardian, Hals joined a militia detachment - the St. George's Rifles detachment, in which he served as a musketeer from 1612 to 1624.
In 1617 he remarried Lisbeth Reyners. Despite his wife’s hot-tempered nature, they lived together for more than 50 years.
Frans Hals had 11 children. 5 sons became, like their father, artists, whose main genre was portraiture.
The last years of the artist’s life were half-starved. Hals received a small pension from the municipality, but was in debt to the city's meat and bread merchants. Before his death, he ends up in a shelter for the poor.
The artist died in this shelter on August 26, 1666. There were only a few people at his funeral. In the house where Frans Hals ended his career, there is now an art gallery named after him.
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In the 17th century, Holland became an exemplary capitalist country. She conducted extensive colonial trade, she had a powerful fleet, and shipbuilding was one of the leading industries. Hardworking farmers, the Dutch, in a relatively small area of land, managed to create such a dairy industry that they became famous in the pan-European market.
At the same time, Holland during this period was also the most important center European culture. The struggle for national independence and the victory of the burghers also determined the character of Dutch culture in the 17th century. Protestantism completely replaced the influence of the Catholic Church, so the clergy in Holland did not have the same influence as in Flanders, Spain or Italy. Leiden University was a center of free thought. The spiritual atmosphere contributed to the development of philosophy, natural sciences, and mathematics.
Painting experienced an extraordinary flourishing in the 17th century. Main achievement Dutch art during this period - in easel painting. Man and nature were objects of observation and depiction Dutch artists. Hard work, diligence, love of order and cleanliness are reflected in paintings depicting Dutch life. Household painting becomes one of the leading genres, the creators of which received the name “little Dutch” in history, either because of the unpretentiousness of the plots, or because of the small size of the paintings (the paintings were intended not for castles, but for the living rooms of a city house), or perhaps for both. Despite the name of the Dutch artists, they were mainly major masters. Many painters worked in Holland. There was, as it were, a division of labor between them: many artists worked only in one narrow area. There are very few paintings on religious and mythological themes. The main customers were not the church, but the businesslike Dutch bourgeoisie, who wanted to see themselves and their lives in painting.
Although the features of the Baroque were still visible in Dutch painting of the 17th century, it still remained restrained and thoroughly realistic and truthful.
The history of Dutch painting of the 17th century is perfectly demonstrated by the evolution of the work of one of the largest portrait painters in Holland, Frans Hals.
Hulse works a lot in the genre of group portraits. This is basically a depiction of rifle guilds - corporations of officers for the defense and protection of cities. What captivates us in these portraits is not the portrait resemblance, but the ideals of the young republic expressed in them, the feelings of freedom, equality, and camaraderie. From the paintings of the 10s - 30s they look cheerful and energetic. enterprising people who are confident in their abilities and tomorrow(“The Shooting Guild of St. Hadrian”, etc.) Hals usually depicts them in a friendly feast, in a cheerful feast.
The large size of the composition, sonorous, rich colors (yellow, red, blue, etc.) create the monumental character of the image. The artist acts as a historiographer of an entire era.
Researchers sometimes call Hals's individual portraits genre portraits, because... Usually the images here appear among familiar objects, in a familiar situation: portraits government officials solving state affairs; portraits of matrons with pink or yellow skin, in white caps, in black woolen or silk dresses, discussing the budget or almshouses. He painted portraits of respectable townspeople in the family circle - husband, wife, child. He painted a drunken woman, an old fishmonger grinning like a witch, a beautiful gypsy whore, babies in diapers, a daring reveler of a nobleman with a mustache, boots and spurs. He painted himself and his wife, young lovers, on a turf bench in the garden after their wedding night. He painted tramps and laughing boys, he painted musicians, he painted a fat cook.
In Khalsa's portraits late period the carefree prowess, energy, and pressure in the characters of the depicted persons disappears. The coloring of his paintings becomes strict, almost monochrome. It is usually dark, black clothing, with a white collar and cuffs, and a dark olive background color.
Two years before his death, Hulse returned to group portraiture. He paints two portraits of the regents and regents of a nursing home, in one of which he himself found refuge at the end of his life. The portrait of the regents lacks the camaraderie that was present in previous portraits. The models are disunited, powerless, bleary-eyed, devastation written all over their faces. The gloomy color scheme (black, gray and white) adds a special tension to the pinkish-red stain of fabric on the knee of one of the regents. So, in his ninth decade, a sick, lonely and impoverished artist creates his most dramatic and most exquisite works.
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 of 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. The size of the canvas, full-length figures, 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 the history of portraiture, 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, with 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.
TO early creativity Hals includes wonderful 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. People in Khalsa's portraits are captivating vitality, health, cheerfulness and even some 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 proudly sat next to the colonels.”
Frans Hals portrait of a young man in a skull
Young man with a skull - typical young Khalsa Job. 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.
Details Category: Fine arts and architecture of the late 16th-18th centuries Published 02/01/2017 18:23 Views: 2113Frans Hals is one of the representatives of the Golden Age of Dutch painting.
The Golden Age of Dutch Painting called the most outstanding era in Dutch painting– XVII 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. “Little Dutchmen” worked mainly in three genres: landscape, still life and everyday life, and 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 his entire life. The Frans Hals Museum is located in Haarlem, an art museum also known as 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 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 of the 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, 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 - it is the “eternal theme” of 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 set too far back - 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.
Later works Khalsa are executed in a very meager 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, confidence in drawing, grayish but energetic and harmonious coloring, and amazing virtuosity in the layering of 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.
A painter of the heroic era of Holland, Frans Hals belonged to the generation whose hands built the independent Dutch state. Heyday is associated with his name national painting. Along with Rembrandt and Velazquez, Hals - great master European portrait. His works are distinguished by their bold novelty and powerful love of life. Like no other painter, Frans Hals mastered the secret of conveying a lively smile that illuminates the face, an instant gesture, a relaxed pose. Whether the artist depicted the lower classes of society, poor fishermen, mischievous boys, dashing Dutch officers, or painted commissioned portraits of the prosperous bourgeoisie, everywhere he followed the truth of life in revealing the natural essence of man, his character and emotions. Hals was especially attracted to active, cheerful people full of irrepressible energy. He loved to capture subjects in action, in movement, in a specific life situation. The very surface of his canvases is permeated with movement and trembling of colorful strokes. According to the French artist and writer Eugène Fromentin, "Hals's skill is incomparable, he knows it and loves for others to see it."
Hulse's brilliant work, reflecting its time, contrasted sharply with his largely prosaic, material unsettled life. It is uneventful and little known.
Hals was born in Antwerp, the son of a Dutch weaver, who returned to his homeland with his family in 1591. Hals studied painting with Karel van Mander in Haarlem, where he then lived and worked almost constantly. Hals enjoyed enormous fame during his lifetime, but died in poverty.
The artist’s famous works of the 1620-1630s are distinguished by a genre approach to portraiture, which initially did not have clearly defined boundaries. He observed these people on the streets, in the taverns of Haarlem, among participants in folk performances.
All in motion, the mocking “Jester with a Lute” (1624-1626, Paris, Louvre) is the embodiment of dexterity, fearlessness and ingenuity. The artist openly admires the charming “Gypsy” (1628-1630, Paris, Louvre). She is not only pretty, feminine and perky; in the image of a girl, whose gentle face glows with a sly smile, one can discern the elemental fullness of life. In every stroke, in soft brownish-golden, gray, pink tones, there is a feeling of lightness and inspiration.
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 a dark, vicious, but indestructibly tenacious life force. In the almost monochrome brownish-gray painting, long and short, thick and transparent strokes are deliberately sharp, rough, as if prickly.
The image of fishermen (symbol of water) became popular in Haarlem, which was famous for fishing. Hals repeatedly turned to this motif in semi-figured genre portraits. The painting from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation shows a left-handed fisherman playing the violin against a backdrop of dunes and a cloudy sky. His smiling face was tanned by the sea sun. Black clothes, a white collar, and a bluish hat are skillfully combined with brownish, gray-silver shades. However, this is not best work There is something superficial about Khalsa, his verbosity is not characteristic of him.
On the contrary, “The Merry Drinking Companion” (1628-1630, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), painted in a similar palette of black, white and gold, is impeccable in composition, sense of plastic form and color rhythm. With a quick and light touch of the brush, the gentleman's clothes made of soft suede, small facial features, fluffy hair, and a glass of wine in his left hand are conveyed. A dandy and a heartthrob, he openly addresses the viewer and is extremely pleased with himself.
Over the years, Hals's portraits become stricter and more restrained, in a more complex and deep psychological characteristics a hint of irony appears. The artist reveals sides in people that he may not have noticed before. Images of children, music, and festive mood gradually disappear from his work.
New tastes are establishing themselves in Dutch society. Successful businessmen and their well-fed families prefer lush, embellished images. Old artist, burdened with a large family, a regular at Haarlem drinking establishments with his careless life, loses customers. Hals's late works are the pinnacle of his creative career; The portraits, varied in their characteristics, sometimes mercilessly reveal in the models either narcissistic arrogance, or cold cynicism, or spiritual insecurity. Hals's painting style changes, develops towards tonal harmony, an exquisite combination of black and silver-gray; The black tone itself is saturated with a richness of shades from charcoal to pearl gray. Flashes of white, pinkish and red color spots acquire a special sonority. Light, sweeping, careless strokes, as if moved from their place, going into different directions freely sculpt a plastic form.
In the Hermitage, attention invariably attracts two male portraits Hals brushes. 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. The moving face of a stranger protruding from the dark darkness, in which one can discern 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.
Hulse's art, enriched by the introduction of plot points, creating the impression of a continuous flow of life in which the sharply defined characters of people interact with each other, was exceptionally vividly embodied in his unsurpassed group portraits.
As an independent genre, the corporate portrait emerged in Dutch painting almost a century earlier. In a naive and constrained composition, isolated portrait figures were arranged in horizontal rows. Rigid rules of representation persisted for a long time.
During the struggle for independence and the subsequent national upsurge of Dutch society special meaning acquired group portraits of officers of rifle companies - a military association of citizens, a kind of honorary burgher militia. The officers, who had served together for several years, were holding a final banquet. The holiday was distinguished by its scope and duration. A resolution of the city authorities of Haarlem in 1621 ordered that it be limited to a period of no more than “three or, in best case scenario, four days." In Holland, group portraits of elders of various associations, trustees of hospitals, almshouses, and doctors, whose profession was respected and valued, were also commissioned.
Creating a group portrait as a special genre requires the artist to be able to achieve unity of the entire group while maintaining the individuality of each participant. Not all even outstanding masters coped with this difficult task. For the Dutch artists who worked before Hals and adhered to the old rules, it was simply unbearable.
In the tradition of this genre, Hals said a new word and breathed a fresh breath of life into it. Throughout his career, he turned to group portraits, which earned great fame. A large group of large paintings is now in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. In the first painting, “Banquet of the Officers of the Rifle Company of St. George,” commissioned in 1616, one can still feel the dependence on the tradition of his predecessors; the artist largely restrains his pictorial temperament. Decisive changes affected the group portraits of officers of the St. George rifle company (1639, Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum) and the company of Captain Reiner Ried (1633, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). Scenes of no longer an official banquet, but a friendly feast, take on a free and relaxed character here. The group of officers seems to have been seen by the artist by chance, their poses are varied, their gestures are eloquent, the sunlight plays on black clothes, white collars, multi-colored scarves and banners. The principle of intersecting diagonals emphasizes the asymmetry, picturesqueness and dynamism of the composition.
Hulse's characters are sincerely open to the viewer, inviting him to share their company.
A quick brush masterfully conveys matte silk, the depth of velvet, the shine of satin, the dense folds of starched collars, and sparkling metal.
Over the years, Khals's group portrait also loses its sense of festivity and becomes more strict and static in composition.
But at the end of his life, at the age of eighty-three, the artist painted unprecedentedly bold group portraits of the regents and regents of a nursing home in Haarlem, sharply breaking with the idea of external good looks. Unique works for their time are the pinnacle of Hals's creativity. Both paintings have become very dark over time, but the impression they create is unforgettable. This is a brutally true portrait of the merciless destructive power of old age. A bunch of prim old women with sanctimonious, embittered, faded, insignificant faces and bony hands of greedy hands seem more organized; the regents still have a glimmer of affection for the material side of life. In the portrait of the regents, there is an atmosphere of confusion, anxiety, compositional discord of figures lacking stability, their awkward poses, chaotic gestures. The regent, fixing a dazed, cloudy gaze on the viewer, makes a speech that seems incoherent. In the gloomy coloring, the only strong color chord is a pink-red stain of fabric on the knee of one of the regents, the edge of a book in the hands of the regent. The brushstroke reaches the limit of freedom and mobility possible for Hals, the paint reaches its transparent fluidity.
It is not for nothing that Hals later became an idol of the Impressionists. The influence of his non-contemporaries and students was enormous in the portrait, everyday genre, in the development of the principles of colorism.
Tatiana Kaptereva