Editing Frans Hals (section)

==Biography==
Hals was born in 1582 or 1583 in [[Antwerp]], then in the [[Spanish Netherlands]], as the son of cloth merchant Franchois Fransz Hals van Mechelen ({{circa|lk=no}} 1542–1610) and his second wife Adriaentje van Geertenryck.<ref name=RKD>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150513075730/https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/35550 Frans Hals] iat the [[Netherlands Institute for Art History]] {{in lang|nl}}<!--Middle Dutch--></ref> Like many, Hals's parents fled during<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hals/hd_hals.htm|title=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|last=Liedtke|first=Walter|date=August 2011|website=metmuseum.org|access-date=29 March 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417210717/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hals/hd_hals.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Fall of Antwerp]] (1584–1585) from the south to Haarlem in the new [[Dutch Republic]] in the north, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Hals studied under [[Flemish people|Flemish]] émigré [[Karel van Mander]],<ref name=RKD/><ref>Slive, Seymour, Frans Hals, and P. Biesboer (1989). ''Frans Hals''. Munich: Prestel. p. 379.</ref> whose [[Mannerism|Mannerist]] influence, however, is barely noticeable in Hals's work.

In 1610, Hals became a member of the [[Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke]], and he started to earn money as an art restorer for the town council. He worked on their large art collection, which Karel van Mander had described in his ''[[Schilderboeck]]'' ("Painter's Book") published in Haarlem in 1604. The most notable works were those of [[Geertgen tot Sint Jans]], [[Jan van Scorel]], and [[Jan Mostaert]] that hung in the [[Janskerk (Haarlem)|St John's Church]] in Haarlem. The restoration work was paid for by the council. The council had confiscated all Catholic religious art in the ''[[Haarlem#Religion|Haarlemse Noon]]'', although it did not formally possess the entire collection until 1625, when the city fathers had decided which were suitable for the town hall. The remaining art, which was considered too Roman Catholic, was sold to [[Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen]], a fellow guild member, on condition that he remove it from Haarlem. It was in this cultural context that Hals began his career in portraiture, since the market had disappeared for religious themes.

The earliest known example of Hals's art is the portrait of ''[[Jacobus Zaffius]]'' (1611). His 'breakthrough' came with the life-sized group portrait ''[[The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616]]''. His most famous sitter was ''[[René Descartes]]'', whom he painted in 1649.

[[File:Frans-hals-standbeeld-florapark.JPG|thumb|Statue of Frans Hals in Florapark, Haarlem]]

Frans Hals married his first wife Anneke Harmensdochter around 1610. Frans was of Catholic birth, however, so their marriage was recorded in the city hall and not in church.<ref name="JJVH">[http://nha.courant.nu/issue/JJVH/1973-01-01/edition/null/page/251 Anneke Harmensdr] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014135028/http://nha.courant.nu/issue/JJVH/1973-01-01/edition/null/page/251 |date=14 October 2017 }} in ''Nieuwe gegevens betreffende Anneke Harmansdr., de eerste echtegonte van Frans Hals'', by M. Thierry de Bye Dolleman working from research by C.A. de Goederen-van Hees, pp. 249-257, Haerlem: jaarboek 1973, ISSN 0927-0728, on the website of the North Holland Archives</ref> Unfortunately, the exact date is unknown because the older marriage records of the Haarlem city hall before 1688 have not been preserved.<ref name=JJVH/> Anneke was born 2 January 1590 as the daughter of bleacher Harmen Dircksz and Pietertje Claesdr Ghijblant, and her maternal grandfather, linen producer Claes Ghijblant of [[:File:Haarlem - Spaarne 42.JPG|Spaarne 42]], bequeathed the couple the grave in the [[Grote Kerk, Haarlem|Grote Kerk church]] where both are buried, though Frans took over 40 years to join his first wife there.<ref name=JJVH/> Anneke died in 1615, shortly after the birth of their third child and, of the three, [[Harmen Hals|Harmen]] survived infancy and one had died before Hals's second marriage.<ref name=JJVH/> 

As biographer [[Seymour Slive]] has pointed out, older stories of 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.<ref>Slive, Seymour, Frans Hals, and [[Pieter Biesboer]] (1989). ''Frans Hals''. Munich: Prestel. p. 376.</ref> Similarly, historical accounts of Hals's propensity for drink were largely based on embellished anecdotes of his early biographers like [[Arnold Houbraken]]; there is no direct evidence that Hals did drink heavily. After his first wife died, Hals took on the young daughter of a fishmonger to look after his children and, in 1617, he married Lysbeth Reyniers. They married in [[Spaarndam]], a small village outside the [[banns]] of Haarlem, because she was already eight months pregnant. Hals was a devoted father, and they went on to have eight children.<ref>[http://www.wga.hu/index1.html See Hals biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001032054/http://www.wga.hu/index1.html |date=1 October 2007 }} in the Web Gallery of Art</ref>

Contemporaries such as [[Rembrandt]] moved their households according to the caprices of their patrons, but Hals remained in Haarlem and insisted that his customers come to him. According to the Haarlem archives, a [[Meagre Company|schutterstuk]] that Hals started in Amsterdam was finished by [[Pieter Codde]] because Hals refused to paint in Amsterdam, insisting that the militiamen come to Haarlem to sit for their portraits. For this reason, we can be sure that all sitters were either from Haarlem or were visiting Haarlem when they had their portraits made.

Hals's work was in demand through much of his life, but he lived so long that he eventually went out of style as a painter and experienced financial difficulties. In addition to his painting, he worked as a [[art restoration|restorer]], art dealer, and art tax expert for the city councilors. His creditors took him to court several times, and he sold his belongings to settle his debt with a baker in 1652. The inventory of the property seized mentions only three [[mattress]]es and bolsters, an armoire, a table, and five pictures<ref name=EB1911/> (these were by himself, his sons, van Mander, and [[Maarten van Heemskerck]]).<ref>Slive, Seymour, Frans Hals, and P. Biesboer (1989). ''Frans Hals''. Munich: Prestel. p. 406.</ref> Left destitute, he was given an [[Annuity (financial contracts)|annuity]] of 200 florins in 1664 by the municipality.<ref name=EB1911/>

The Dutch nation fought for independence during the [[Eighty Years' War]],<ref name=EB1911/> and Hals was a member of the local [[schutterij]], a military [[guild]]. He included a self-portrait in his [[The Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1639|1639 painting of the St Joris company]], according to its 19th-century painting frame. (It has not been possible to confirm this.) It was not common for ordinary members to be painted, as that privilege was reserved for the officers. Hals painted the company three times. He was also a member of a local [[chamber of rhetoric]], and in 1644 he became chairman of the Guild of St Luke.

Frans Hals died in Haarlem in 1666 and was buried in the [[Grote Kerk, Haarlem|Grote Kerk]] church.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Artist Info|url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1369.html#:~:text=Hals%20died%20in%20Haarlem%20on,Vinne%20(1628%E2%80%931702).|access-date=1 September 2020|website=www.nga.gov|archive-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205062844/https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1369.html#:~:text=Hals%20died%20in%20Haarlem%20on,Vinne%20(1628%E2%80%931702).|url-status=live}}</ref>  He had been receiving a city pension, which was highly unusual and a sign of the esteem with which he was regarded. After his death, his widow applied for aid and was admitted to the local almshouse, where she later died.