Artists of past and present ARTISTS OF PAST AND PRESENT | Page 73

Frans Hals
He was born in 1580, in Antwerp.
Between 1600 and 1603 Hals studied under the artist and art historian
Karel van Mander who was a fellow Flemish immigrant living in Haarlem.
Afterwards, at the age of 27, he became a member of the city's Guild of
Saint Luke. The earliest known example of Hals' art is the 1611, Jacobus
Zaffius. His 'breakthrough' came in 1616, with the life-size group portrait,
The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company
Hals married his first wife, Anneke Hermansdochter Abeel in 1610 and
they had two children together. Sadly, Anneke fell fatally ill and died in
1615. Just two years later Hals married his second wife, Lysbeth Ryners,
with whom he had eight children.
Hals is best known for his portraits, mainly of wehy citizens, like Pieter van den Broecke and
Isaac Massa, whom he painted three times. He also painted large group portraits, many of
which showed civil guards. He was a Baroque painter who practiced an intimate realism with
a radically free approach.
As biographer Seymour Slive has pointed out, older stories of Frans Hals abusing his first
wife were confused with another Haarlem resident of the same name. Indeed, at the time of
these charges, the artist had no wife to mistreat, as Anneke had died in May 1615.
The earliest known example of Hals' work was the piece Jacobus Zaffius, completed in
1611. However, the artwork that launched his career was the 1616 life-size group portrait,
Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard.
His style changed throughout his life. Paintings of vivid color were gradually replaced by
pieces where one color dominated: black. This was probably due to the sober dress of his
Protestant sitters, more than any personal preference.