RKD STUDIES

Some artworks from the Hals workshop combine a portrait-style representation with a stage-like performance, a tendency that was already expressed in Hals’s dynamic, momentary portrayals such as the Portrait of a man wearing an embroidered costume of 1624 (A1.16), or the two portraits of Willem van Heythuysen (c. 1585-1650) (A2.6, A3.22). The same concept applies to the two original compositions of The lute player in Dublin [277] and the Portrait of Daniel van Aken playing the violin in Stockholm [278].

While portraits of musicians had existed for a long time, the inspiration drawn from the half-length figures of the Utrecht Caravaggists and Hals’ s genre-paintings that were influenced by them, provided unexpectedly vivid momentary impressions. Yet, typical as they are for Hals’s expressive repertoire, both the Dublin and the Stockholm painting display a manner of execution that differs from that of Hals. The Dublin lute player was reproduced in a 1754 mezzotint by John Faber (1694-1756) (C37), which is inscribed FRANS HALS PINXt, thus identifying the Dublin painting as a creation by the master. Indeed, the motif of a musician turned towards the viewer, the lighting and the modelling of the hands, but above all the diagonal composition correspond with other paintings by Hals and his workshop. Slive noted the similar positioning of the lute player’s right hand and the hand of The violin player now in Virginia (A4.2.8a) [279] [280].¹ Both hands are well modelled and conform not so much to the hands rendered by Judith Leyster (1609-1660) than they do to those by Hals. Only the latter’s available stock of studies can have held these and similar models. The lute player’s patchily rendered left hand, which is built up out of an unnecessarily large number of brushstrokes, imitates Hals’s observation of light effects, yet misses his concision and ease [281]. This can be recognized even better when compared to the hand from the Washington Portrait of a woman of 1633 (A1.57) [282], in which the clarity and anatomical accuracy of Hals’s approach is immediately visible.

279
Detail of fig. 277
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
The lute player, c. 1634-1640
Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland
Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

280
Detail of cat.no. A4.2.8a
workshop of Frans Hals (I), possibly Jan Miense Molenaer
The violin player, c. 1626-1628
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Hofrichter included the Dublin painting in her catalogue raisonné as a work by Leyster, entitled Portrait of a lute player, thus underlining its portrait-like character instead of listing it as a typical genre scene that represents the performance of an actor in costume. Similar to the Portrait of Daniel van Aken playing the violin, it could therefore have been a commission, which needed to be understood as representing a particular gentleman in elegant clothing playing the lute. As such, it is a portrait in action, with unusually emphasized allegorical additions. In 2017, Dudok van Heel referred to the posthumous 1709 auction of the estate of the painter and art dealer Allaert van Everdingen (1621-1675) in Amsterdam, where a painting was described as: ‘a standing man being the celebrated lute player Soop by Hals’.² In any case, it is likely that this picture of Floris Soop by Frans Hals came from the estate of the Soop family. And the description certainly matches that of The lute player in Dublin, even though the standing position is not very clear from today’s perspective.

As the execution of the lute player’s face demonstrates, this very special painting imitates Hals’s brushwork, the paint being applied in many thin brushstrokes in a uniform thickness throughout the whole face. These strokes, however, lack in rhythm and do not reach the same degree of effortlessness as Hals’s own hand [283]. Stylistically, the painting falls into the mid-1630. As closely related as it is to other products from the workshop, it can only have been made there, probably on the basis of preparatory studies for the face and hands. A similar assessment can be made for the Portrait of Daniel van Aken playing the violin [278], whose size was probably reduced on all four edges. The original composition is documented in a drawing by Matthias van den Bergh (c. 1615-1687) (D58), which bears an inscription that also identifies the sitter. The painting technique is smoother here than in The lute player, but differs from Hals’s creative approach as well in every area. In his left hand, for instance, the contours have been rendered by means of hard dark brushstrokes [284]. For the face, it can be assumed that Hals created the initial design and included some final touches. The black contour that runs from the nasal root over the right hand eyebrow could have been executed by him, as well as the lines below the lower eyelids and above the right nostril [285]. In spite of the abraded surface, it is still evident that most of the face was executed by an assistant’s hand.

283
Detail of fig. 277
workshop of Frans Hals (I)
The lute player, c. 1634-1640
Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland
Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

284
Detail of fig. 278
workshop of Frans Hals (I), possibly Frans Hals (II)
Portrait of Daniel van Aken playing the violin, c. 1640-1645
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum
Photo: Anna Danielsson/Nationalmuseum

285
Detail of fig. 278
workshop of Frans Hals (I), possibly Frans Hals (II)
Portrait of Daniel van Aken playing the violin, c. 1640-1645
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum
Photo: Anna Danielsson/Nationalmuseum