Editing Frans Hals (section)

==Portrait painter==
[[File:Willem Heythuijsen by Frans Hals 1634.jpg|thumbnail|Willem van Heythuysen by Frans Hals (1634, one of two portraits of Van Heythuysen attributed to Hals).]]  
Later in his life, his brush strokes became looser, fine detail becoming less important than the overall impression.<ref>{{Citation |last=Rikken |first=Marrigje |title=Foreword |date=2024 |work=Frans Hals |pages=7–8 |editor-last=Middelkoop |editor-first=Norbert E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.22135982.3 |access-date=2025-01-01 |series=Iconography – Technique – Reputation |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-6606-8 |editor2-last=Ekkart |editor2-first=Rudi E.O.}}</ref> His earlier pieces radiated gaiety and liveliness, while his later portraits emphasized the stature and dignity of the people portrayed. This austerity is displayed in ''[[:File:Frans Hals - Regents of the St Elizabeth Hospital of Haarlem - WGA11139.jpg|Regents of the St Elizabeth Hospital]]'' in 1641 and,<ref>{{Citation |last=van Putten |first=Herman |title=Lost Lines: New Light on the Painting Technique of Frans Hals |date=2024 |work=Frans Hals |pages=171–182 |editor-last=Middelkoop |editor-first=Norbert E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.22135982.14 |access-date=2025-01-01 |series=Iconography – Technique – Reputation |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-6606-8 |last2=Abraham |first2=Liesbeth |last3=te Marvelde |first3=Mireille |editor2-last=Ekkart |editor2-first=Rudi E.O.}}</ref> two decades later, ''[[Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse|The Regents]]'' and ''[[Regentesses of the Old Men's Almshouse]]'' ({{circa|lk=no|1664}}), which are masterpieces of color, though in substance all but monochromes.<ref>{{Citation |last=Abraham |first=Liesbeth |title=More than Decoration: The Map in Frans Hals’s Regents of St Elisabeth’s Hospital |date=2024 |work=Frans Hals |pages=65–81 |editor-last=Middelkoop |editor-first=Norbert E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.22135982.8 |access-date=2025-01-01 |series=Iconography – Technique – Reputation |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-6606-8 |last2=Levy-van Halm |first2=Koos |editor2-last=Ekkart |editor2-first=Rudi E.O.}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Abraham |first=Liesbeth |title=Unfinished Business? Comparing Hals’s Late Regents and Regentesses |date=2024 |work=Frans Hals |pages=183–192 |editor-last=Middelkoop |editor-first=Norbert E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.22135982.15 |access-date=2025-01-01 |series=Iconography – Technique – Reputation |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-6606-8 |editor2-last=Ekkart |editor2-first=Rudi E.O.}}</ref> His restricted palette is particularly noticeable in his flesh tints, which became greyer from year to year, until finally the shadows were painted in almost absolute black, as in the ''[[:File:Frans Hals 116 WGA version.jpg|Tymane Oosdorp]]''.<ref name=EB1911/>

This tendency coincides with the period when Hals gained fewer commissions from the wealthy, and some historians have suggested that a reason for his predilection for black and white pigment was the low price of these colors as compared with the costly lakes and carmines.<ref name=EB1911/> Both conclusions are probably correct, however, because Hals did not travel to his sitters, unlike his contemporaries, but let them come to him. This was good for business because he was exceptionally quick and efficient in his own well-fitted studio, but it was bad for business when Haarlem fell on hard times.
[[File:Portrait of a Gentleman by Frans Hals.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of a Gentleman'', circa 1630; private collection]]
As a portrait painter, Hals had scarcely the psychological insight of a [[Rembrandt]] or [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]], though in a few works, like the ''Admiral de Ruyter'', the ''[[Jacob Pietersz Olycan|Jacob Olycan]]'', and the ''Albert van der Meer'' paintings, he reveals a searching analysis of character which has little in common with the instantaneous expression of his character portraits. In these, he generally sets upon the canvas the fleeting aspect of the various stages of merriment, from the subtle, half ironic smile that quivers round the lips of the curiously misnamed ''[[Laughing Cavalier]]'' to the grin of the ''[[Malle Babbe]]''.<ref>{{Citation |last=Tummers |first=Anna |title=The New York Malle Babbe: Original, Studio Work, or Forgery? |date=2024 |work=Frans Hals |pages=130–154 |editor-last=Middelkoop |editor-first=Norbert E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.22135982.12 |access-date=2025-01-01 |series=Iconography – Technique – Reputation |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-6606-8 |last2=Wallert |first2=Arie |last3=Erdmann |first3=Robert G. |last4=Kleinert |first4=Katja |last5=Hartwieg |first5=Babette |last6=Mahon |first6=Dorothy |last7=Centeno |first7=Silvia |last8=Groves |first8=Roger |last9=Anisimov |first9=Andrei |editor2-last=Ekkart |editor2-first=Rudi E.O.}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Franken |first=Michiel |title=‘Because you simply cannot argue about art with a chemist’: Scientific Research on Frans Hals’s Paintings in the Netherlands during the 1920s |date=2024 |work=Frans Hals |pages=211–220 |editor-last=Middelkoop |editor-first=Norbert E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.22135982.17?seq=2 |access-date=2025-01-01 |series=Iconography – Technique – Reputation |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-6606-8 |editor2-last=Ekkart |editor2-first=Rudi E.O.}}</ref> To this group of pictures belong the ''[[The Lute Player (Hals)|Lute Player]]'', the ''[[The Gypsy Girl (Hals)|Gypsy Girl]]'' and the ''[[Laughing Fisherboy]]'', whilst the ''[[Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen]]'' and the somewhat confused group of the ''[[:File:Beresteyn-van der Eem family ca1635.JPG|Beresteyn Family]]'' at the Louvre show a similar tendency. Far less scattered in arrangement than this Beresteyn group, and in every respect one of the most masterly of Hals's achievements is the group called ''[[:File:Family Group in a Landscape 2.jpg|The Painter and his Family]]'', which was almost unknown until it appeared at the winter exhibition at the [[Royal Academy]] in 1906.<ref name=EB1911/>

According to the [[Frans Hals catalogue raisonné, 1974]], 222 known paintings can be ascribed to Hals. This list was compiled by [[Seymour Slive]] in 1970−1974 who also wrote an exhibition catalogue in 1989 and produced an update to his catalogue raisonné work in 2014. In 1989, another authority on Hals, [[Claus Grimm]],<ref>{{Citation |last=Grimm |first=Claus |title=Looking at Frans Hals in the Digital Age: The Benefits of Detailed Comparisons |date=2024 |work=Frans Hals |pages=155–170 |editor-last=Middelkoop |editor-first=Norbert E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.22135982.13 |access-date=2025-01-01 |series=Iconography – Technique – Reputation |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-6606-8 |editor2-last=Ekkart |editor2-first=Rudi E.O.}}</ref> disagreed with Slive and published a shorter ''œuvre'' of 145 paintings in his ''[[Frans Hals catalogue raisonné, 1989|Frans Hals. Das Gesamtwerk]]''.

It is not known whether Hals ever painted landscapes, still lifes or narrative pieces, but it is unlikely. His debut for Haarlem society in 1616 with his large group portrait for the St George militia shows all three disciplines, but if that painting was his signboard for future commissions, it seems he was subsequently only hired for portraits. Many artists in the 17th century in Holland opted to specialise, and Hals also appears to have been a pure portrait specialist.