Frans Hals’ portrait of Verdonck is a striking example of a painter utterly in love with paint. Every brushstroke pulses with energy, capturing the unruly spirit of one of Haarlem’s most notorious characters. Verdonck was infamous enough to be restrained by city authorities for his aggressive behavior.
The painting brims with Hals’ signature vigor. Most of it is executed wet-in-wet, with pigments blending directly on the canvas, while delicate lines in the beard and hair reveal a masterful technique where the brush displaces the paint to create raised, tactile ridges. The work even references the satirical tract Kakebeen (“jawbone”), suggesting Verdonck’s readiness to verbally smite his enemies, much like Samson in the biblical story.
This portrait belongs to Hals’ dynamic output of the 1620s, a period marked by rapid execution and bold experimentation, entirely different from his formal commissions and later works. Compared with a later portrait in Edinburgh, Verdonck appears younger here — his forehead less receded, his beard fuller — and the painting’s raw, in-your-face energy mirrors the subject’s aggressive, confrontational personality perfectly.
A masterclass in capturing character and the very joy of painting, this portrait of Verdonck is on offer as a highlight of the Old Master & 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction presented by Qatar Executive, taking place at Sotheby’s London on 3 December.
I love painters who love paint
and whose love of paint is immediately obvious in their paintings,
and that's so clear in this case.
In inventories, we find paintings described as depicting a ghek,
which is a rough, troublesome character,
and ghek is the origin of the modern word geek.
This is Verdonck, almost certainly,
who was a troublesome character in Haarlem,
so much so that he was given a restraining order
by the city fathers
and threatened with imprisonment
for being a wild and abusive character.
There was a tract written in the time of this painting
called kakabane, which means jawbone.
It refers, of course, to Samson,
who smote his enemies with the jawbone of an ass.
This is the jawbone of a cow.
The tract meant that he is going to smite his enemies verbally.
It's great fun to paint somebody looking like that.
He was interested in troublesome and difficult characters,
and can you not see why?
This is a familiar image
because there is a famous painting in Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh painting is later,
and we can see this because he's clearly younger in this painting.
His forehead hasn't receded as much.
There are fewer wrinkles in it.
His beard is thicker and fluffier.
It's so visceral and energetic.
Most of this painting is done what we call wet-in-wet.
Nearly all of it is applied with one layer of paint
on top of an existing layer of paint that hasn't yet dried,
so the pigments mix,
and there is this fascinating drawing technique.
The beard, sideburns, etc, are all drawn with a fine brush,
so the paint is displaced,
so you get these ridges either side of it.
The whole painting is done that way with a few exceptions.
He also painted children, quite possibly his own children,
but as urchins,
very, very rapidly painted in exactly the same way.
This is part of an output that Howells had in the 1620s
and completely different to his formal portraits from this time
and certainly different to his later paintings.
This is a time when Howells was really making his reputation.
The energy with which this painting is created,
the speed, the vigour, the power,
matches this in-your-face aggressive character perfectly.
