RKD STUDIES

Black and white chalk on blue paper, 260 x 183 mm
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv.no. RP-T-1961-51

The portrait is confidently drawn. Based on a comparison with Hals’s self-portrait in Officers and sergeants of the St George civic guard of 1639 [1] (A2.12) and the preserved copies of the smaller painted self-portrait of c. 1648-1650 (B17), its characterisation appears credible and lively. Although the drawing is generally accepted as to have been made by an unknown draughtsman, Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) has been tentatively suggested as the possible artist as well.¹ This suggestion is based on Van Dyck’s alleged visit to Haarlem in 1632 or 1633, as is reported by Houbraken.² Stylistically though, this attribution is not convincing.

D1

Pen in brown on paper, 318 x 231 mm, signed and dated upper right: M. v. bergh fecit / 1600; inscribed in verso: Vastenavontsgasten
Paris, Fondation Custodia – Collection Frits Lugt, inv.no. 6310a

The inscription Vastenavontsgasten on this drawing after Hals’s painting now in New York [2], indicates that the scene depicts a company celebrating on Shrove Tuesday. This interpretation does not exclude the characters being derived from contemporary theatre, such as Peeckelhaering and Hans Wurst. Overpainting of the New York painting had covered up some of the provoking details and the coarse background figures, which are all present in Matthias van den Bergh’s (1615-1687) drawing of 1660. Thus, the beautifying reworking of Hals’s painting could not have taken place before that date.

D2

Black, red and white chalk on grey-brown paper, 250 x 183 mm, monogrammed centre left: WB
Paris, Fondation Custodia – Collection Frits Lugt, inv.no. 1235

This and the following drawing (D4) resemble two distinctive details from the painting Merrymakers at Shrovetide in New York [2] and as such testify of the contact between Willem Buytewech (c. 1591/1592-1624) and Hals. Additionally, they set the terminus ante quem for Hals’s preparatory sketches for the figures in the abovementioned painting to August 1617 – when Buytewech left Haarlem for Rotterdam.³ This first drawing depicts Peeckelhaering – recognizable by the garland of salted fish and eggs – without his merry companions from the painted example, and set within an elaborately decorated frame. Both drawings have long been considered copies of the New York painting. However, they are more detailed in execution and probably reproduce Hals's lost workshop templates. Two painted copies of the motif on the present sheet have survived as well (A3.1b, A3.1c).

D3

Black, red and white chalk on grey-brown paper, 202 x 172 mm, monogrammed lower left: WBF
Paris, Fondation Custodia – Collection Frits Lugt, inv.no. 1776

This drawing portrays the popular character Hans Wurst, recognizable from the sausage dangling from his cap. It is also most probably a detailed rendering after Hals’s workshop template, and not based on the New York painting [2].

D4

Black, red, and white chalk on parchment, 265 x 224 mm
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, inv.no. F I 305 recto (PK)

This drawing is a copy of a detail from the multi-figure composition of the Rommel-pot player, datable to c. 1622-1624. The drawing was probably directly inspired by the variant that is now in Wilton House [3].⁴

D5

Pen and brow ink, with brown and grey wash on paper, 203 x 162 mm, dated to the right of the head: A°. 1624, signed in verso lower centre: D bai
New York, Clement C. Moore Collection

This drawing, dated 1624, is one of three drawn copies by David Bailly (1584-1657) after Hals's Lute Player, the other two dated 1626 (D6a) and 1628.⁵ Judging from details in the execution of the face and hands, Bailly's source of inspiration must have been the painted workshop copy in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam [4]. Therefore, both the copy and the underlying original by Hals cannot have been painted later than 1624, establishing also a terminus ante quem for Hals's intensive contact with the Dutch Caravaggists' depictions of musicians.⁶ In addition, this date makes the supposed attribution of the Amsterdam painting to Judith Leyster (1609-1660) improbable, as she was only fifteen years old in 1624.⁷ Bailly included the motif of the Lute Player in his 1651 Vanitas still life with a self-portrait, as a drawing hanging on the back wall.⁸

D6

Pen and brush in brown and grey ink on paper, 217 x 172 mm, signed and dated lower left: D. bailly. delin. / A⁰. 1626.
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv.no. RP-T-1886-A-562

The composition of this drawing is almost identical to the version from 1624 (D6). However, Bailly has included two books to the table, and a sheet of paper hanging over the edge, which bears the signature and date.

D6a

Black and white chalk on paper, 420 x 227 mm
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv.no. RP-T-1914-10

This drawing was associated with the Banquet of the officers of the St George civic guard (A1.30), the Portrait of Willem van Heythuysen (A2.6), and the Study of a standing man (B8). Slive outlines the discussion in favor of the attribution of the drawing to Hals and subsequently lists convincing arguments why it should not be attributed to him.⁹

D7

Pen and grey wash on paper, 121 x 89 mm, dated upper left: 1636 3/22
Haarlem, Noord-Hollands Archief, inv.no. NL-HlmNHA_1100_49949

This drawing depicts the same character as Hals’s painting in Edinburgh [5]. Additionally, it bears the first two sentences of the poem that is also inscribed onto the print by Jan van de Velde II (1593-1641), which was based on Hals’s example. The drawing probably served as a design for the painting Samson with the jawbone.¹⁰

D8

Black chalk, pen in black and watercolor on paper, 382 x 295 mm, signed and dated in verso: J. VD Sprang 1762
Haarlem, Noord-Hollands Archief, inv.no. NL-HlmNHA_1100_53013513

This drawing, that was based on the painted Portrait of Cornelia Claesdr. Vooght of 1631 [6], illustrates that the coat-of-arms that is visible today in the painting had probably not yet been added by 1762. Most likely, the same goes for the male counterpart, the Portrait of Nicolaes Woutersz. van der Meer (A3.19). As Slive noted, the chemical analysis of the pigments in the coat-of-arms resulted in an identification of Prussian blue, which came onto the market only in the early 18th century. Another insight provided by comparison of the present drawing with X-rays of the painting, concerns the reworking of the sitter’s face, which must pre-date 1762, as the faces are highly similar in both the drawing and the painting in its current condition.¹¹

D9

Black chalk and brown wash on paper, ø 85 mm, signed and dated upper right: L. vander Helst. f / A.o. 1663.
The Hague, Royal Library, inv.no. Hs.131 H.26

This drawing is part of the album amicorum of the teacher and poet Jacob Heiblocq (1623-1690). It was first reported by Slive, who saw in it the proof that Hals’s motifs were copied and emulated by contemporary artists. Lodewijk van der Helst (1642-1684) possibly drew inspiration from Hals’s Two singing boys in Kassel (A1.24). In that painting, the positioning of the heads is slightly different, as the boys both gaze intently downwards into the music book in front of them.

D10