RKD STUDIES

The sequence of the five group portraits of officers and sergeants of the Haarlem civic guard companies demonstrates an increasing involvement by workshop assistants in the painterly execution. This becomes most obvious in the largest painting, Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard of 1639 [152]. This final civic guard portrait by Hals features nineteen individuals, seventeen of them members of the St George civic guard and one of them from the Calivermen civic guard. Hals arranged them in two rows, with himself appearing as the second figure at the top left. He had served as a guardsman in this part of the militia from 1612 to 1615, but his appearance in this representative performance was only due to his achievements as a brilliant painter of the Haarlem guardsmen.

The substantial width and height of this painting requires a significant amount of planning, both for the overall execution as well as the details. Far removed from free invention or projections from memory, the undertaking needed precise studies of the faces and hands, but also of clothing, sashes, and weapons. It was a challenging task to observe the respective sitters and render them accurately: not only to achieve the recognition factor in the facial features, but also to convey typical impressions of their appearance, behavior and facial expressions. A selection of subtle psychological features was captured in a close-up view and also needed to be emphasized for observation from a distance. With large picture sizes, this capturing of an individual sitter was very challenging – both due to the angle of observation and for reasons of lighting. These difficulties are illustrated by a photograph of the restorer Derix de Wild (1896-1932), who is removing the varnish from the painting [153].¹ Just like the restorer, the painter must have sat close to the canvas. Painting a portrait directly from the sitter was almost impossible for such a large format, as the necessary close-up observation of the face would not have been possible without a significant turn, with the painter needing to readjust his view every time. If the eyes swivel too far, fleeting visual impressions get lost.

For an execution of heads and hands this means a distance of one to one and a half meters between the painter and the sitter works best, no more and no less. In addition, we must bear in mind that the angle of lighting in Hals’s portraits formed an important element of the pictorial illusion. In group portraits, this needed to be consistent. The light fell uniformly from the top left, that is from a studio window to the left, and behind and above the painter. It needed to illuminate both the surface of the painting and the sitter, which meant that there was not much leeway for either. Under these circumstances, making use of the additional step of preparatory studies became inevitable, the transfer of which onto the final canvas was delegated to assistants. These preparatory individual studies were executed on paper, panel, or canvas in a manageable size and could be inserted into the final composition with the correct proportions. Even though this meant that important elements of the picture needed to be painted twice, the quality of observation and rendering would be consistent. The likelihood that this procedure typically used for murals would also be applied to paintings on panel and canvas starting above a certain size is supported by the observation of inadequate integration of separate elements in many group portraits and other large scale paintings. A case in point is the 1625 family portrait by Pieter de Grebber (c. 1595/1605-c. 1652/1653), and another is Rembrandt’s 1633 double portrait of the shipbuilder Jan Rijcksen († 1637) and his wife.² It should be said in Frans Hals’s honor that his multi-figure pictures are characterized by an unobtrusive reconciliation of individual parts of the composition.

Almost all the faces in the 1639 civic guard portrait display noticeably more pasty and smooth brushwork in comparison to the early group portraits of 1616 (A2.0) and 1626/1627 (A1.30, A2.8A). The hesitant painterly execution in dashed lines for many of the hair areas and collars reveals this to be the work of assistants. Hals’s involvement was limited: first, to the design of the figures with their posture and gestures; second, to the making of detailed colored models for each of the sitters’ face and hands with sufficient indications for the clothing, sashes, and weapons; and third, to the final retouchings. This observation also applies to his self-portrait. The only exceptions are the two figures on the right hand edge of the composition, which display Hals’s brushwork throughout. For these, an initial underpainting for the individual areas was created at best, as is noticeable in the forehead of Dirck Dicx († 1650), second from the right [154]. Otherwise, in the dark tones of this figure, the light grey-brown ground is visible underneath, which can also be seen in the ensign Pieter Schout (dates unknown) on the far right, in several places at the contours where the opaque background color was not connected to the figure.³ What is the reason for this preferential treatment of the right hand side of the composition? Sitting or standing in front of the painting, the painter could work directly from the model, with minimal swiveling of the gaze – the individual would otherwise have been hidden by the wide canvas. The same may have been possible for the left hand part, but perhaps the lighting situation was not suitable for such a bulky format. To get it closer to the source of light, a reversal – by 180 degrees – would have been required, which then would have led to a change in direction of the lighting on the sitters. This examination shows that the personal involvement of the master was certainly not guided by the hierarchy of sitters, but rather by the best possible manner of studying the models. Hals had simply chosen the easier way of working, directly in front of the sitter. Otherwise, he would not have given preference to the two ensigns over the captains and treasurer Michiel de Wael (1596-1659) in his especially noticeable colorful outfit [155].

To the right of De Wael, there is lieutenant Cornelis Coning († 1671), whose face is rendered in a soft manner with enamel-like transition, after its contours had been transferred onto the canvas [156]. Highlights and shadows are only marked tentatively, as can be seen in for example in the vertical crease above the nose. Some strengthening and slightly correcting accents were placed in the pre-modelling stage: at the lower edge of the eyebrows, on the shaded side of the eyelids, on the shaded area in the lips, on the nasal bridge and the left nostril, and in the bright area beneath it. The ground, as well as the thick application of paint have led to a pronounced patter of craquelure which blurs the overall impression of the painting. At de Wael’s left stands lieutenant François Wouters († 1661), also painted by a workshop assistant [157]. The preparatory layer that was applied by this assistant has been preserved here without corrections in the consistently weakly rendered collar. All the more visible above it are the highlights, and the accents of color and shadow that were applied with a flat brush in semi-dry paint on the lower eyelid, the nasal bridge and fold, and on the chin. In the portrait of De Wael himself, the same kind of smooth pre-modelling and later applied brushstrokes can be distinguished [158]. Later cleaning and overpainting have obscured the original shape of the lower lip and the goatee. Nevertheless, Hals’s succinct brushwork is recognizable in the eyebrows, eyelids and their shadows, as well as in the moustache, and in the firm line of the open mouth – over a creamily rendered lower lip that is certainly not modelled by Hals himself. The curly hair was sensitively remodelled by Hals. In contrast, De Wael’s body and costume were executed in detail by the workshop [159]. The hard zig zag folds of the sleeve and the dark corner of the folds in the gloves are clumsy representations of an example, lacking the soft transitions which are so typical for Hals. The left glove has turned out too large. The pattern of small slits in the silver-grey sleeve is mechanical and repetitive, scattered like raindrops over the entire expanse of the sleeve, regardless of the fabric being flat or bulky, parallel to the picture plane or foreshortened. Such a somewhat primitive method of decoration can be found in the representation of brocade in the 15th century – it is surprising that Frans Hals tolerated it. The smooth beige waistcoat probably lost its original curvature through later overworking. This can also be seen in the line of the waistcoat’s lower edge which was interrupted and later corrected. As the layers of brushstrokes with several interruptions show, the execution of the blue sash is another hesitant imitation of the master’s clear observation as expressed in the white sash of Cornelis Coning [160]. In the sash and collar of the officer next to Coning, we can again observe a ‘Halsian’ style. Unlike Hals’s own technique of elegant increases and decreases of brightness and color [161], the highlights and shadows are not applied here with an angular flat brush, but with a soft pointed brush, resulting in a sequence of unconnected squiggles. Hals’s brushwork can only be identified in the reworking of the grey-green glove. This and many other similar areas confirm that most of the clothing in Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard was executed by assistants. As mentioned above, this does not apply to the portrait and costume of ensign Pieter Schout [162]. With the exception of the glove, everything displays the master’s autograph brushwork, which seems to follow its own rhythm, line after line. A modern viewer perceives the sensitive coordination of the pattern of colors that express the character of the surfaces, as delicate. Only the too wide left hand with its impasto paint application does not integrate with this loose structure.

152
Frans Hals (I), his workshop and Cornelis Symonsz. Van der Schalcke
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
canvas, oil paint, 218 x 421 cm
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, inv.no. OS I-113
cat.no. A2.12

153
Restorer Derix de Wild removing the varnish from Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639 (fig. 152)
Photo: Frans Hals Museum, Conservation Studio Archive

154
Detail of fig. 152, Ensigns Dirck Dicx and Pieter Schout
Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

155
Detail of fig. 152
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum
Execution of faces and figures on the basis of preliminary sketches and templates by Frans Hals (I)

156
Detail of fig. 152, Cornelis Coning
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum
Execution of the face on the basis of preliminary sketch and template by Frans Hals (I)

157
Detail of fig. 152, François Wouters
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum
Execution of the face on the basis of preliminary sketch and template by Frans Hals (I)

158
Detail of fig. 152, Michiel de Wael
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum
Execution of the face on the basis of preliminary sketch and template by Frans Hals (I)

When returning to the portrait of Michiel de Wael in the present 1639 group portrait, and comparing it with his likeness from the 1626-1627 Banquet of the officers of the St George civic guard (A1.30), we can observe that his ochre leather waistcoat was represented in the earlier painting with a thinner paint layer [163]. The shades of the curvatures are brushed on with a flat brush in a delicate diagonal hatching pattern. The shining gold threads of the embroidered borders are merely suggested; only their lighter edges have been captured with a pointed brush. The soft edge of the leather is indicated by a slightly varying shadow tone, and its cast shadow on the fabric of the trousers underneath has hard edges on one side and is softly blended on the other. In contrast, the waistcoat in the 1639 painting is done in a consistently flat and edgy manner, with the folds in the trousers appearing coarse and exaggerated [164]. Additionally, the border of De Wael’s blue sash displays blotchy and interrupted brushstrokes, instead of lines modulating in width [165]. While in the earlier painting only the highlights in the border have been depicted, in this instance the sequence of the threads is mechanically drawn in the same color and width, with a later darkening layer applied on top in the shadows. The gold lace trimming on De Wael’s sash is rendered uniformly smooth and at the same time imprecise, making the structure of the fabric appear flat and dull [166]. Comparing it with the silver lace details on the sash of captain Johan Schatter († 1673) in the slightly earlier Meeting of the officers and sergeants of the Calivermen civic guard (A2.10) illustrates the difference between the sloppy work of an assistant, and the concentrated and focused perception of the master, who has captured the visual impression of the filigree structure and the varying degrees of brightness with varied strokes of the finest brush [167]. A similar observation can be made by comparing the hilt of De Wael’s sword in the 1639 painting, with that of ensign Pieter Schout at the outer right hand side and of Quirijn Damast († 1650), third from the right [168] [169][170]. In De Wael’s hilt, even though the artist has observed the reflections and shadowed edges, the focus remains merely on tracing the shape of the object. The representation thus becomes dominated by much that is visually incidental. Also, light and dark tones are set against each other too harshly, as can be said for the folds of fabric alongside of the hilt. Contrarily, Pieter Schout’s hilt displays a confidently rendered grading of brightness, and that of Quirijn Damast, additionally, has an appearance that is fully focused on the visual impression of the object.

163
Detail of cat.no. A1.30
Frans Hals (I)
Banquet of the officers of the St George civic guard, c. 1626-1627
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

164
Detail of fig. 152
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

165
Detail of cat.no. A1.30
Frans Hals (I)
Banquet of the officers of the St George civic guard, c. 1626-1627
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

Another juxtaposition of details from the same civic guard portrait, rendered either by Hals himself or a workshop assistant, offers insights into the differences in depicting facial features. The face of Pieter Schout – carried out by Hals – is characterized by several instances where visual impressions and their painterly translation into brushstrokes appear as independent optical motifs. This occurs in the moustache, the three strokes of the goatee, the dark contour along the cheek and the shadow of the chin [171]. This contrasts with the painterly uninspiring and strict description of the same passages in the face of captain Nicolaes Grauwert (1582-1658) [172]. There, the literal depiction of the features fails to emphasize the psychologically significant details that occur so snapshot-like in the face of Schout. A comparable spontaneous momentary impression appears in the portrait of ensign Dirck Dicx, second from the left and also fully executed by Hals [173]. Underneath the light streak of paint on the forehead, the underpaint in a slightly lighter tone is visible. Finally, in the face of Lambert Woutersz († 1655), the first from the right in the lower row of figures, traces of both Hals and a studio assistant can be discerned [174]. The master was responsible for the moustache and goatee, the eyebrows, and the strengthening of the eye contours. Typical assistant’s work are the smooth modelling of the face, and the repetitive dark spots in the lace collar, forming dull rows – contrasting clearly with the visually varied lace elements in the portrait of Dirck Dicx [173].

To summarize the abovementioned observations, Hals mainly focused on the preparatory work for the group portrait of 1639. The share that was executed by the workshop is surprisingly large, though clearly based on preparatory studies by the master. There must have been an entire stack of ‘snapshots’ and drawings for the assistants to work from, ranging from detailed portrait sketches for the faces, outlines for the hands and gloves, and finger positions set as contours. In contrast, the clothing, weapons, flags, and sashes probably only needed summary preparation. These could be observed in detail at the place of execution – most likely in the headquarters of the civic guard. In the earlier civic guard portrait from 1616 (A2.0), Hals had still painted all hands on his own, and in the subsequent ones he still carried out a part of them. In the 1639 group painting, then again, he even left the execution of the hand of the ensign Pieter Schout to an assistant [175].How Frans Hals himself depicted hands and gloves during the 1630s and 1640s is demonstrated in several paintings. One of these is the 1644 Portrait of Joseph Coymans (A1.111)[176], which clearly continues the development that started earlier, see for instance the gloved hand of ensign Boudewijn van Offenberch (1590-1653) [177] in the 1616 Banquet of the officers of the St George civic guard (A2.0), that of ensign Jacob Schout (c. 1590 – after 1627) [178] in the 1626/1627 Banquet of the officers of the St George civic Guard (A1.30), and ensign Nicolaas van Bambeeck’s (1596-1661) hand in the Meagre company, painted in 1634 (A2.11) [179]. The 1644 portrait of Coymans’s wife Dorothea Berck (A1.112) is another document for Hals’s handling of gloves and hands. This awareness of the master’s style clearly excludes an attribution of the hands of ensign Pieter Schout and Quirijn Damast in the 1639 Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard (A2.12) to Hals. The former has been rendered with thick paint in an angular manner – with a hand and cuff that are too wide – different from Hals’s clear manner of modelling [175]. The latter is also an assistant’s work, based on a design by Hals, which has been enlivened by the master with a few swipes of the brush [180].

175
Detail of fig. 152
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

176
Detail of cat.no. A1.111
Frans Hals (I)
Portrait of Joseph Coymans, 1644
Hartford, The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Photo: Allen Phillips

We encounter the artist Frans Hals not only in individual autograph portraits and details like the sword hilts, but also in his revising corrections. These can be found above all in the faces and hair, but also in collars and sashes. They become recognizable once the viewer familiarizes himself with the characteristics of the workshop production, and perceives contrasting bold light and dark accents which were inserted as corrections by a more confident hand. For example, a typical assistant‘s execution can be observed in the lifeless collar and the soft modelling of the face of sergeant Abraham Cornelisz van der Schalcke (1582-1682) [181]. The muted tones that are visible here are contrasted by bright highlights and dark strokes which enliven the hair and the beard. Equally striking are the black contour of the nasal root, the cast shadow of the nose, the contours of the lashes and along the jawline on the right. This enhances the profile of the face against the grey shade of the collar. Just how great the differences are between master and assistant is demonstrated by a comparison with other works as well. If we notice the hesitant, insecure modelling of Michiel de Wael’s sword hilt [168] and discover further similar areas in the same painting, such as the halberds next to sergeant Van der Schalcke’s head – which are drawn rather than painted, as such being reduced to their mere contours [181] – and Hals’s self-portrait [182], one may hardly believe what is found in the Meeting of the officers and sergeants of the Calivermen civic guard of 1632/1633 (A2.10) [183]. But are the brilliant depictions of weapons and textiles, such as Johan Schatter’s sash [167], the weapons above his head – of which the light reflections on the metal surfaces and the gold treads in the blue tassel are worth noting [183] – and the sword hilts of Pieter Schout and Quirijn Damast [169] [170] by Frans Hals himself or rather by a specialist? As the comparison with other earlier and later works shows, these are creations by Frans Hals himself, even if he only executed them from time to time.

181
Detail of fig. 152, Abraham Cornelisz. van der Schalcke
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

Equally revealing is a comparison between the side-lit face of captain Quirijn Damast in the 1639 Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard [184], with the profile of regent Dirck Dircksz. Del († 1650) in Hals’s 1641 Regents of St Elisabeth’s Hospital (A1.102) [185]. Both faces are of exactly the same size – 17 cm from the chin line to the center of the forehead – and also comparable in tone. Hals enhanced the visual effect of the earlier portrait by strengthening the curvatures of the collar with narrow white highlights and broader black brushstrokes. Recognizable retouchings in the captain's face – applied in creamy paint onto the smoothly modelled face – are the black-grey and brown lines on the temple, in the eye socket, under the nostril, and the cast shadow of the beard on the lip. The same accents can be found in the slightly later face of the regent, which represents precisely what Hals’s own and unadulterated work looks like. Yet while in the regent’s face, the accents complement a composition of delicate, semi-transparent colors, in the captain’s portrait they sit on top of an enamel-like paint layer with seemingly stuck-on highlights. The soft touch of the brush, which in the 1641 regent’s portrait confidently hits the color tones and lets them fade elegantly, is lacking in the 1639 civic guard portrait. There is no clearer juxtaposition of assistants’ work with the master’s corrections on the one hand and a fully autograph painting by Hals on the other. The face in the latter appears so sketchy and applied fresh to the canvas, that one would not assume any intermediate steps or preparatory studies, even though these cannot be ruled out either. Most likely, Hals rolled up the large canvas either horizontally or vertically, in order to gain a direct perspective on the sitter, who was meant to appear in the center of the composition.

A similar observation can be made by studying the likeness of Frans Hals, positioned behind ensign Jacob Druyvesteyn († 1691) in the 1639 group portrait [182]. This section of the painting was executed by assistants, on the basis of detailed preparatory studies by Hals, as can be observed in the smooth modelling of most details – glove, collar, facial features. The blue fabric of the flag is not clearly defined either. Hals’s own brushwork is recognizable in the highlights and shadow contours that are added at the last stages of the painting process: the light strokes on his forehead and nasal bridge, besides the left eye, on the lower right eyelid, and under the left nostril; and the accents in the goatee and the moustache. In addition, there are the black lines of the eyebrows, under the lower right eyelid, and marking the nostrils. In the ensign’s face, typical corrections by Hals are the reworking of the hair, of the lip contour, the eyebrows, the outer contours of the jawline, the goatee and the cast shadow of the nose. These two faces, which are executed strongly drawn and contour-led, differ strongly from the delightful autograph figures that were inserted by Hals in the background of the 1632/1633 Meeting of the officers and sergeants of the Calivermen civic guard (A2.10), behind a halberd that executed by Hals as well [186].

184
Detail of fig. 152, Quirijn Damast
Frans Hals (I)
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

185
Detail of cat.no. A1.102, Dirck Dircksz. Del
Frans Hals (I)
Regents of St Elisabeth’s hospital, c. 1640-1641
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

186
Detail of cat.no. A2.10
Frans Hals (I)
Meeting of the officers and sergeants of the Calivermen civic guard, c. 1632-1633
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum