The Wallace Collection has a small but magnificent exhibition – Hals: The Male Portrait;
Twelve portraits by Frans Hals demonstrating how his style evolved as he got older. FH lived 1582 – 1666 and the earliest portrait in the exhibition is about 1626: “Young Man Holding a Skull”.
Then he settles down to paint the merchants and gentry in his studio at Haarlem. Unlike other fashionable artists of the time he expected his sitters to come to him. It makes for a cohesive collection of young men who must have known each other. Flamboyantly attired they look out through the centuries curious, insouciant and perhaps mocking a 21st century viewer.
This is a good example of the devil-may-care attitude of his sitters; a slightly droopy right eye, expensively attired and a hand that looks like a chickens’ foot. There are ten more glorious depictions of Hals’ Haarlem patrons.
They are often leaning and looking as if caught by a camera. One of his last portraits shows how his style developed.
His quick, rough brushstrokes were not appreciated until Hals was re-discovered by Impressionists. He was in his eighties when he painted this and it was suggested he had lost his grip. An interesting disquisition on the Fitzwilliam Museum website gives a more rounded appreciation of how Hals’ style developed in his old age. All I can add is it’s interesting the man holding a skull at the beginning of his career is dressed similarly to the unknown man almost forty years later and all his work is so fine.