Frans Hals- Four Sensational 17th-Century Portraits - National Gallery

The painting is testament to Frans Hals' extraordinary skill of observation. My name is Bart Cornelis, the curator of the Credit Suisse Frans Hals exhibition here at the National Gallery. And I'm Charlotte Wietema, curatorial fellow here at the Gallery. And we're here in the first exhibition devoted to Frans Hals in over 30 years. And today we are going to take a closer look at some of the paintings in the show. This is one of the most famous paintings in all of 17th century Dutch painting. It's the group portrait of St George's civic guard in Haarlem. Frans Hals painted five of these militia companies. I think this is probably the most beautiful and the most exciting one. It is also the first time that this picture has left the city of Haarlem since it was painted in about 1627. Frans Hals takes on this genre of group portraits for militia companies to have themselves portrayed. But on the whole, they tend to be quite formulaic, almost like a shooting gallery of portraits. With Frans Hals, however, he really manages to create a dynamic between these people and an energy, partly through his phenomenal brushwork, but also in the way he organizes the composition. The most eye-catching figure in this painting is the man sitting here in front, tipping his glass upside down. In this exhibition, we've been able to reunite him with his portrait that Frans Hals painted as well, which in turn we have reunited with the portrait of his wife. So here he is looking at himself across the room, and it is a great example of how Frans Hals manages to imbue life and energy into these kind of group portraits. This captivating lute player is one of Frans Hals' earliest and most successful half-length genre paintings. Hals did not portray a paying clienteer, but instead depicted a social type. And this meant that he was unrestrained by the requirements of portraiture, and as such allowed himself more freedom regarding composition and technique. So even though this is not a formal portrait, it is clear that Frans Hals modeled this carefree young man after a real person. And he's wearing a fanciful outfit of black and red stripes and these big yellow buttons, so perhaps that of a jester. And this hint at theatricality raises some questions. Are we looking at a model in a costume, or did Frans Hals take his inspiration directly from the stage? And are we looking at an actor, or a popular musician, or even perhaps a member of a chamber of rhetoric? Hals himself was a member of such a society, and it was called the Weingardranken, or the Vine Temples. It was a chamber of rhetoric where they created and performed poetry, music, and plays. So it's not hard to imagine that Frans Hals might have gotten his inspiration for paintings such as this one from that environment. Well, whoever this merry man may be, the painting is testament to Frans Hals' extraordinary skill of observation. He combined elements such as the man's sideway glance, his cheeky smile, his tousled hair, and his lopsided head to create a moment of suspended animation. And his expressive brushstrokes enhance the painting's sense of liveliness and spontaneity. This is one of the most glorious double portraits painted in 7th century Netherlands. It is extraordinary in its informality, the way the husband and wife are sitting next to each other in this incredibly relaxed manner. He is sort of leaning slightly backwards, she's next to him and leaning her arm on his left arm. She also has the most amazingly winning smile. Isaac Massa, I think, is the sitter. Not everyone necessarily agrees, but I think it is Isaac Massa and his wife Beatrix van der Laan. There's all sorts of symbolism in the picture that relates to their marriage, because this picture commemorates their marriage in 1622. There is the vine that clings to the tree in the background, there is the ivy in the sloping ground at the lower right, which are both plants that cling on to something, and the symbolism of that is quite self-evident in the context of a marriage portrait. There's also the thistle in the lower left corner, and the thistle is a traditional emblem of faithfulness in love. In the background, there's a garden of love, a sort of late medieval theme that is there to again denote the same subject. It's a singular painting within Frans Halser's oeuvre in that it's the only double portrait that survives. It may be the only one he ever painted. The kind of nonchalance that it exudes is out of this world. It is that all of a sudden we come across an actual couple from the 17th century who are totally at ease with each other. La Pain Cavaliere is arguably the most famous portrait painted by Frans Hals, and we don't know who the sitter is, but an inscription in the upper right corner tells us that the man was 26 years old when Frans Hals painted him in 1624. The man is dressed to impress, and his clothing reflects the latest fashion trends from France, something that would have only been available to the Dutch elite. These include this expensive lace and a magnificently embroidered doublet. They were captured in Frans Hals's characteristic loose brushstrokes. His clothing suggests that the man was a bachelor, as married men tended to dress way more soberly at a time. This portrait really exemplifies Hals's ability to characterize his sitters incredibly well, and he captured this man with a striking vitality, and he enhances this by including vivid details such as the man's rosy cheeks, or his enigmatic smile, the twinkle in his eye, or his very impressive moustache. The man holds his left arm akimbo, and this lends a tremendous sense of dynamism to the painting. It appears as if his arm enters the space of the viewer, so it also adds a sense of depth. Its catchy title, the Laughing Cavalier, was coined in the 19th century, but it is in fact inaccurate, because this man isn't laughing, but he's smiling, and he's by no means dressed as a cavalier. However, the title became intertwined with the iconic painting, and it is still the name we give to it today.