National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Willem Coymans
  • Overview
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

Willem Coymans (1623–1678) was a member of one of Holland's wealthiest merchant families. Their crest of oxen heads hangs on the wall; the Dutch name Coymans literally translates as "cow men." Below the shield, a Latin inscription states that Willem was 22 years old in 1645. Hals rarely dated his pictures. Since his few datings normally also provide the subjects' ages, the inscriptions must have been requested by the patrons to serve as genealogies.

Hals was the first portraitist who consistently depicted his subjects seated sideways, with their arms hooked casually over the backs of their chairs. Coymans, an elegant dandy proud of his expensive clothes, wears an embroidered jacket and sports a pom–pom on his hat, which is pushed forward rakishly. Hals' dazzling brushwork is especially evident in the gold embroidery and the crisply pleated shirt–sleeve.

Inscription

center right: AETA SVAE.22 (second 2 has been changed to a 6) / 1645

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Coymans family, Haarlem. Mrs. Frederick Wollaston, London. (Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris), before 1894; Rodolphe Kann [d. 1905], Paris, by 1897; purchased 1907 with the entire Kann collection by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold to Arabella D. [Mrs. Collis P.] Huntington [c. 1850-1924], New York; by inheritance to her son, Archer M. Huntington [1870-1955], New York; purchased 17 May 1928 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc.);[1] sold 7 May 1929 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.

[1] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 322, box 467, folder 2 (copies in NGA curatorial files).

Exhibition History

1909
The Hudson-Fulton Celebration, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1909, no. 37, as Balthasar Coymans.
1928
1928 International Exhibition of Antiques and Art, Olympia, London, 1928, no. X22, as Portrait of Young Koeymanszoon van Ablasserdam.
1939
Masterworks of Five Centuries, The Golden-Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939, no. 80a, repro., as Portrait of Balthasar Coymans, Alderman of Haarlem.
1989
Frans Hals, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, 1989-1990, no. 61, repro.
2000
Like Father, Like Son? Portraits by Frans Hals and Jan Hals, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 2000, pl. 1.
2003
Loan to display with permanent collection, The National Gallery, London, 2003-2004.
2007
Dutch Portraits: The Age of Rembrandt and Frans Hals, The National Gallery, London; Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague, 2007-2008, no. 24, repro.

Bibliography

1897
Moes, Ernst Wilhelm. Iconographia Batava. 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1897-1905: 1(1897):205, no. 1779, as Balthasar Coymans.
1898
Sedelmeyer, Charles. Illustrated Catalogue of 300 Paintings by Old Masters.... Paris, 1898: 66, no. 54, repro., as Koeymans Loon van Ablasserdam.
1900
Bode, Wilhelm von. Gemälde-sammlung des Herrn Rudolf Kann in Paris. Vienna, 1900: xviii, pl. 49, as Koeymanszoon van Ablasserdam.
1907
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century.... 8 vols., translated from the German edition. London, 1907-1917: 3(1910):53, no. 168.
1907
Sedelmeyer, Charles. Catalogue of Rodolph Kann Collection. 2 vols. Paris, 1907: 1:13, 42, no. 40, repro., as Portrait of Young Koeijmanszoon van Ablasserdam.
1908
Grant, J. Kirby. "Mrs. Collis P. Huntington's Collection." The Connoisseur 20 (January 1908): 3-15, fig. 1 (as Young Koeijmanszoon van Ablasserdam).
1908
Holmes, Charles John. "Recent Acquisitions by Mrs. C. P. Huntington from the Kann Collection."The Burlington Magazine 12 (January 1908): 195-205, repro., as Young Koeijmanszoon of Ablasserdam.
1908
Lennep, John C. van. "Portraits in the Kann Collection." The Burlington Magazine13 (August 1908): 293-294.
1909
"A Portrait by Hals at the Grafton Galleries." The Burlington Magazine 16 (October 1909): 109-110, as Johan Koeijmans.
1909
Moes, Ernst Wilhelm. Frans Hals: sa vie et son oeuvre. Trans. by J. de Bosschere. Brussels, 1909: 101, no. 27.
1914
Bode, Wilhelm von, and Moritz Julius Binder. Frans Hals: sein Leben und seine Werke. 2 vols. Berlin, 1914: 2:65, no. 245, pl. 155a (also English ed., Frans Hals: His Life and Work. 2 vols. Berlin, 1914: 2:19, no. 245, pl. 155a).
1921
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals, des Meisters Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben, 28. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921: 319, no. 212, repro. (also 1923 rev. ed., Stuttgart, Berlin, and Leipzig: 320, no. 225, repro.).
1930
Dülberg, Franz. Frans Hals: ein Leben und ein Werk. Stuttgart, 1930: 178-180, repro.
1936
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals Paintings in America. Westport, Connecticut, 1936: unpaginated, no. 82, repro.
1941
Duveen 1941, fig. 194, as Portrait of Balthasar Coymans.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 95, as Balthasar Coymans.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 240, repro. 24, as Balthasar Coymans.
1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 96, color repro., as Balthasar Coymans.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 77, repro., as Balthasar Coymans.
1956
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 44, repro.. as Balthasar Coymans.
1958
Slive, Seymour. "Frans Hals' Portrait of Joseph Coymans." Wadsworth Atheneum Bulletin (Winter 1958): 13-23, fig. 10.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 20, as Balthasar Coymans.
1963
Beeren, Willem. Frans Hals. New York, 1963: 89, no. 49, repro.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 178, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 65, as Balthasar Coymans.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:216, color repro., as Balthasar Coymans.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 57, repro., as Balthasar Coymans.
1969
Taylor, Katrina V. H. "A Note on the Identity of a Member of the Coymans Family by Frans Hals." Studies in the History of Art (1969-70):106-108, repro.
1970
Slive 1970-1974, 1(1970):160, 185; 2:pls. 253, 255; 3:85-86, no. 166.
1972
Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: Entwicklung, Werkanalyse, Gesamtkatolog. Berlin, 1972: 17, no. 130, figs. 145, 148.
1974
Montagni, E. C. L'opera completa di Frans Hals. Milan, 1974: 104, no. 167, repro., color repro. 51 and cover (also 1976 French ed., Tout l'oeuvre peint de Frans Hals, Paris, 1976).
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 170, repro., as Balthasar Coymans.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 266-267, no. 349, repro.
1978
Haverkamp-Begemann, Egbert, ed. Wadsworth Atheneum Paintings: The Netherlands and the German-Speaking Countries, Fifteenth-Nineteenth Centuries. Hartford, 1978: 148.
1981
Baard, H. P. Frans Hals. New York, 1981: fig. 66.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 266, no. 343, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 196, repro.
1986
Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids and Kampen, 1986: 308, fig. 460.
1989
Slive, Seymour, et al. Frans Hals. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem. London, 1989: no. 61.
1990
Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: The Complete WorK. New York, 1990. Trans. Jürgen Riehle from Frans Hals: das Gesamtwerk. Stuttgart, 1989: 95, color fig. 15a, 186, color fig. 66, 193-194, 288, no. 127, repro.
1995
Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 76-79, color repro. 77.
1996
Tansey, Richard G. and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Tenth Edition. Fort Worth, 1996: 855, color fig. 24.45.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 188, no. 148, color repro.
2005
Duffy-Zeballos, Lisa. "Frans Hals' Willem Coymans." Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery 7, no. 2 (March/April 2005): 152-153, color repro.
2012
Atkins, Christopher D.M. The Signature Style of Frans Hals: Painting, Subjectivity, and the Market in Early Modernity. Amsterdam, 2012: 105-106, 292, color fig. 71.
2103
Bennett, Shelly M. The Art of Weath: The Huntingtons in the Gilded Age. San Marino, 2013: 156, 161-161, 163, 177, 267-268, 270, color fig. 3.24.

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