RKD STUDIES

Oil on canvas, 60.5 x 48.9 cm
Sale Paris (Christie’s), 15 December 2004, lot 514

On stylistic grounds, this painting can be dated to c. 1638-1640. On the same basis, it can be linked to the group of paintings of fisher children (A3.30, A4.2.17, A4.2.19, A4.2.20, A4.2.21, A4.2.22, A4.2.23, A4.2.25, A4.2.26, A4.2.27, A4.2.28, A4.2.29). As indicated by Slive, the 1640 inventory of the art dealer Johannes de Renialme (1593-1657) in Amsterdam listed as ‘Een toebacq drinker met een kan van Hals, 12 florins’.¹ Additionally, the present representation corresponds to a great extent to a mezzotint by Abraham Blooteling (1640-1690), which is based on a painted example by Hals, according to the inscription [1]. However, the handling in the present painting is softer and coarser than the likely modello for Blooteling’s mezzotint probably was. For example, the print displays gradual reflections and skilfully modelled transitions on the jug, which are rather simplified in the present painting. An increased attention to such observations in the print would be an uncharacteristic achievement by the engraver. The superiority of the engraving is therefore an argument in favour of the present painting being a copy after a lost, more accurate, model from Hals’s workshop.

B11

Oil on panel, 26.5 x 18.5 cm
Bayonne, Musée Bonnat

This painting depicts the same composition as the former catalogue number (B11), the only difference being the smoke that is being released from the pipe. The manner of execution points to Hals’s closer circle. The abovementioned critical reservations apply to this smaller rendition as well.

B11a

Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Formerly The Hague, art dealer S. Nijstad

This painting renders motifs from two artworks that were created by the Hals workshop: the Fishergirl in a private collection [2] and the Fisher girl with a basket on her head in the Cincinnati Art Museum [3].

B12

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Workshop of Frans Hals – possibly Frans Hals (II) – and possibly Philips Wouwerman
Fishergirl, c. 1636-1638
canvas, oil paint, 80.6 x 66.7 cm
lower left: FH
New York, private collection
cat.no. A4.2.19

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Workshop of Frans Hals, possibly Frans Hals (II)
Fishergirl with a basket on her head, c. 1636-1638
canvas, oil paint, 76.5 x 62.9 cm
lower left: FH
Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum, inv.no. 1946.92
cat.no. A4.2.23

Oil on panel, 37.5 x 33 cm
Sale Lempertz (Cologne), 14-16 October 1974, lot 91

The figure in the left hand foreground is freely based on the Fisher boy in a landscape from Antwerp [4].

B13

Oil on canvas, 66 x 90.9 cm
Private collection

This beach scene is a combination of motifs from various paintings from the Hals workshop: Fisher boy in a landscape [4], Fisher girl [2], Fisher boy with a basket in a landscape [5] and Fisher girl with a basket on her head [3]. Together with the two preceding works from the Molenaer workshop (B12, B13), this painting documents the production of paintings depicting fishermen and fisher children in Haarlem in the first half of the 17th century. It seems likely that this group of painting can be dated to the same period, since the motifs are quite true to the models. Unless workshop copies were created for every one of them, which seems unlikely, the models would only have been available for use in the workshop until they were sold.

B14

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Workshop of Frans Hals
Fisherboy in a landscape, c. 1636-1638
canvas, oil paint, 74 x 61 cm
lower right: FH
Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, inv.no. 188
cat.no. A4.2.20

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Workshop of Frans Hals
Fisherboy with a basket in a landscape, c. 1636-1638
canvas, oil paint, 74.1 x 60 cm
lower left: FH
Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland, inv.no. 193
cat.no. A4.2.21
Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

Oil on canvas, 65 x 51 cm
Germany, private collection

The execution of the figure is close to the style of Jan Miense Molenaer (1606-1668). Deviating from this, is the area of the face area, designed with cast shadows in the manner of Frans Hals.

B14A

Oil on panel, 40.2 x 33 cm
Sale New York (Sotheby’s), 24-25 January 2008, lot 316

Valentiner suggested this fragment to be a copy after Portrait of a woman, possibly Judith van Breda of 1639 (A4.1.14).² Since it appeared on the art market in 2008, and excellent reproductions are now available, that identification can no longer be maintained. The head in the present portrait is narrower, the eyes lie deeper in the sockets, the upper lids and the eyebrows are shaped differently, and the corners of the nose and the creases of the cheek are less deep.

The manner of execution of the present painting is very close to that of Hals. The modelling of the woman’s face and her cap matches approach, but the paint is applied in uniformly creamy and opaque brushstrokes, rather than becoming thin and transparent in the shadows. The shadows around the eyes, nose and mouth are drawn as contours with the brush, unlike Hals’s manner. Some highlights were added as final accents and reveal the confident hand of a final correction. Overall, this expressive female head is closely related to the portrait of a lady in Ghent, dated 1640 [6].

B15
Photograph Courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc. © 2023

Oil on panel, 19 x 13.2 cm
Sale Amsterdam (Christie’s), 11 November 1996, lot 13

Judging from the positioning of the woman’s body, and the painterly approach in the face and hands, this portrait could be a copy after a lost model by Frans Hals.

B16

Support and dimensions unknown
Whereabouts unknown

Oil on panel, 34.3 x 25.4 cm
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art - The Clowes Collection, inv.no. 2015.28

B17a

Oil on panel, 34 x 25 cm
Germany, private collection

B17b

Oil on panel, 32.7 x 27.9 cm
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv.no. 32.100.8

B17c

Oil on panel, 31.7 x 25.4 cm
Formerly New York, private collection Mrs. Charles H. Senff

Oil on panel, Ø 16.5 cm
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, inv. no. OS I-119

B17e

Oil on panel, 34 x 28 cm
Helsinki, Finnish National Gallery - Sinebrychoff Art Museum, inv.no. S99

B17f

Oil on panel, 27 x 23 cm, monogrammed centre left FH
Sale London (Sotheby’s), 16 April 1997, lot 38

B17g

Oil on panel, 25 x 19 cm
Sale Luzern, 23-25 August 1928, lot 308

The abovementioned paintings are all versions after a lost original self-portrait by Frans Hals, probably of comparable size. It is not a foregone conclusion that the model was executed on a firm support; it could just as well have been a study on paper. The facial features resembles both the self-portrait in Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard of 1639 (A2.12) and the watercolour representation by Cornelis van Noorde (1731-1795) in the Apotheosis of Frans Hals of 1754 (D65). [7][8] Van Noorde also created a mezzotint with the present portrait type and the inscription ‘ipse Pinxit / C.V. Noorde. Fe: 1754’ (C57). In addition, there are two woodcuts from the late 17th century that are ‘FRANS HALS’ and ‘F. HALS’ respectively (C41, C42). These undoubtedly repeat the same motif as all of the abovementioned artworks. Conversely, the portrait engraving in Arnold Houbraken’s (1660-1719) Groote Schouburgh, which supposedly depicts Frans Hals, does not correspond to Hals’s facial features.³ Instead, it shows the head of the Portrait of a man which is today in the Hermitage (A3.53A), before it was overpainted.⁴

Slive lists a total of eight versions of the Hals-portrait, with seven upright rectangular panels roughly matching in size, and one being a roundel. The variant that was formerly in the Denver Art Museum (B17g) is the only one bearing an FH monogram. For a long time, the version in Indianapolis (B17a) was considered to be the best, if not a possible original. In the lower right corner, it bears the number ‘147’, which corresponds to the 1722 inventory of the Königliche Gemäldegalerie in Dresden from where it was subsequently sold. That collection held a second very close copy under no. 191, which is similar in size (B17b). In the 1722 inventory it was listed as a Self-portrait of Frans Hals. However, detailed comparison of high-quality reproductions of all variants does not support the identification of any of them as an original creation by Hals. Slight variations can be found in the painterly technique, but also in the rendering of the hair, the features and collar. As far as a superficial comparison allows to conclude, different hands must have been involved. Going forward, it would be possible to establish the type of wood and the age of the panels through dendrochronological analysis, as well as to analyse the technique, the pigments, and any possible underdrawings or tracings. It remains to be determined when these paintings were made and where. Only then can we decide whether they are a serial workshop production or later creations, and we may even find out why and for whom they were made.

Unlike Rembrandt (1606-1669), Hals seems to have used his own reflection in a mirror only rarely for study. When he inserted his self-portrait in Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard of 1639 (A2.12), the objective was to display himself as part of an important societal group rather than to feature his individual appearance into detail. Based on the preserved copies, the self-portrait that Hals painted probably around a decade later was quite humble in size and showed a reserved attitude. It appears as a rapidly thrown down commemorative present rather than an ambitious self-representation. Therefore, it is hard to gauge what the purpose of the self-portrait could have been and why such a restrained image gave rise to so many repetitions. Walter Liedtke (1945-2015) assumed that ‘the desire of collectors to own images of famous artists evidently led to the production of more “self-portraits” that the sitter cared to paint himself’.⁵ Jacquelyn Coutré went even further when she said that the period from 1645 to 1650 ‘would have been an outstanding moment for him [Hals] to promote his achievements through the concept of the “self-portrait”.’⁶ However, we must not make assumptions on the basis of today’s high esteem for Hals and of modern marketing systems. We do need to consider the values and the behaviour of the art buyers in the 17th century. During his lifetime, neither was Hals viewed as an outstanding figure of contemporary painting, nor was the collecting of artist’s self-portraits common practice in Holland. There is also no comparable group of self-portraits known from Hals’s Haarlem colleagues – some of whom were much more successful and esteemed. Hals painted portraits as commissions from the sitters and their families, as well as for institutions. In addition, he created genre paintings for the open market. Both types of artworks were considered artistically at a lower level, and their purpose was the decorative furnishing of elegant houses. Hals’s products met a certain demand, and from time to time he also received personal appreciation. Nevertheless, most contemporary buyers of his paintings were not collectors, as far as we know from the preserved inventories. A ‘market’ for Frans Hals only came to pass in the last third of the 19th century.

Nevertheless, during his time, some younger colleagues did value Hals’s creative achievements beyond the mere representational skill, which prompted them to buy his works. There are two such known cases. One is a tronie which the portrait painter Jan de Baen (1633-1702) lent to the meeting-room of the brotherhood of artists in The Hague between 1663 and 1669.⁷ The second case concerns a total of nine paintings which were documented in the ownership of the very wealthy Amsterdam marine painter, dyeworks owner, and probably also art dealer Jan van de Cappelle (1626-1679). The 1680 inventory of his estate lists nearly 200 paintings and over 7.000 drawings, of which there were 500 by Rembrandt alone.⁸ The works by Hals are:

32. Een dito Conterfeijtsel [of the deceased] van Frans Hals.
76. Een vrouwetrony van Frans Hals, sijnde sijn vrouw.
77. Een dito trony van Frans Hals.
78. Een tronytge van dito meester.
88. Een trony van Frans Hals.
99. Een Rommelpot van Frans Hals.
132. Het Conterfeytsel van Frans Hals.
160. Een mannetje van Frans Hals.
161. Een trony van Frans Hals.

No. 132 refers to a portrait of Hals, maybe even the original self-portrait by Hals himself, which served as the example for the abovementioned copies.

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Detail of cat.no. A2.12, Self-portrait of Frans Hals
Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard, 1639
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

8
Detail of cat.no. D65
Cornelis van Noorde
Allegory with the portrait of Frans Hals, 1754
paper, washed, brush in grey, pen in grey, 329 x 270 mm
Haarlem, Noord-Hollands Archief

Oil on canvas, 97.5 x 124 cm, monogrammed FH
Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen – Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv.no. 1406

An early and independent reception of the Malle Babbe motif is reflected in the present composition. Judging from the generous addition of the fish still life in the foreground, it was probably executed in the workshop of Abraham van Beijeren (1620-1690). The differentiated rendering of the fish still life as opposed to the handling in the two accompanying figures suggest that these may have been inserted into a finished picture at a later moment. The figure of Malle Babbe matches best with the New York variant (A4.2.31).

B18
© Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden. Photo: Elke Estel/Hans-Peter Klut

Oil on canvas mounted on panel, 69 x 100 cm
Antwerp, private collection

In this instance, the motif of the Berlin Malle Babbe (A1.103) was adopted and slightly altered in order to depict a fishwife. In addition, the element of Water is symbolised by the figure of the tipsy drinker.

B18a

Oil on panel, 42.7 x 30.7 cm
Antwerp, private collection

This variant of Hals’s Malle Babbe-motif was attributed to the master himself by Abraham Bredius according to a note on the back of an old photograph, which reads ‘early work by Frans Hals of Haarlem, probably circa 1610’.⁹ More likely, however, the painting was created in the Hals workshop, possibly by Jan Hals (c. 1620-c. 1654). The unusually bright red jacket may be a later overpainting, which covers the dark folds and highlights underneath.

B19

Oil on canvas, 81 x 67,5 cm
Utrecht, private collection

This copy after Hals’s original in Prague (A1.115) was probably made by Pieter Ernst Hendrik Praetorius (1791-1876) after he had acquired the original c. 1865-1870.¹⁰ It has an elaborate carved and gilded wooden frame, bearing eight family coats-of-arms and the date 1645, which was most likely inspired by the first frame of the prime version.

B20