A half a century after Frans Hals' death (in 1666), his first biographer, Arnold Houbraken, in the Great Book of Netherlandish Painters and Piantresses (1718), characterized the painter as a drunkard. Houbraken reported, "It was Frans's custom to fill himself to the gills each evening." Supposedly, this debauchery prevented the artist from finishing his pictures properly, and his impressionistic brushwork, with its bravura dashes of unblended colors, was labeled as indicative of his intemperate ways.
Very little is actually known of Hals' personality, habits, or day-to-day existence. He left not a single letter, note, or drawing, and his contemporaries recorded nothing about his studio or working methods. As to the circumstances of his commissions and his relation to his patrons, only a few documents survive--and these pertain to a contract dispute over a never-completed work for the Amsterdam militia company.
The few remaining contemporary documents in which he is mentioned reveal that Hals was a poor manager of his affairs. Even during the 1630s, one of his most solvent periods, he was sued for arrears by the governess of his two motherless children as well as by his butcher, baker, and shoemaker. His second marriage brought at least eight more children and worsened his financial situation. By the 1650s he was on the verge of bankruptcy, and in the 1660s he accepted relief from the city of Haarlem.
Notwithstanding, Hals was the city's preeminent portraitist for the middle decades of the century. The art historian Pieter Bieboer has recently established that Hals served as the principal portraitist of the tightly knit oligarchy that ruled Haarlem. The power elite of the city council hired Hals to portray themselves and their families, as well as group portraits of the militia companies, and later, the board members of philanthropic institutions and guilds. His clients included the city's most powerful and famous civic leaders, merchants, theologians, intellectuals, and artists. From 1612 to 1624, Hals was a member of the Saint George Militia Company and the Chamber of Rhetoric. He belonged to the Guild of St. Luke (the painters' association) from 1606 to 1666, though, unlike his colleagues, he served only one year as an officer. Could a dipsomaniac have been as productive as was Hals, and have risen to such prominence in his profession? These organizations were open only to respected members of the community. Thus, while testimony directly contradicting the received tradition is not available, from what is known of Hals' careers it can be inferred that the anecdotes regarding his immoderate habits are largely false.
Reputation Restored
It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that Hals' reputation was restored. In 1868, the French art historian and critic, Theophile Thore, better known by his pseudonym, W. Burger, overturned the "stereotyped calumny" of the stories of Hals' drinking, focusing instead on the artist's technical virtuosity and his republicanism, as evinced by his unprecedented handling of paint and his unbiased portrayal of all members of society. Soon thereafter, Hals was discovered by Courbet, Manet, van Gogh, Monet, Whistler, Sargent, and Chase. Ironically, they praised precisely that stylistic trait that had earlier been deemed Hals' tragic flaw--namely, his impressionistic brushwork. Rather than condemn his lack of finish, they commended his spontaneity, sincerity, and
...
Read Full Article
|
