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Frans Hals the Elder was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group portraiture. He is known for his loose painterly brushwork. His pictures illustrate the various strata of society: banquets or meetings of officers, guildsmen, local councilmen from mayors to clerks, itinerant players and singers, gentlemen, fishwives, and tavern heroes. In his group portraits, such as The Banquet of the Officers of the St Adrian Militia Company in 1627, Hals captures each character in a different manner. The faces are not idealized and are clearly distinguishable, with their personalities revealed in a variety of poses and facial expressions. |
