A Young Man in a Large Hat

1626/1629

Frans Hals

Artist, Dutch, c. 1582/1583 - 1666

Shown from the waist up, a smiling, light-skinned young man wears a voluminous, dark hat and a brown suit in this vertical portrait painting. He sits with his body angled to our left so his right elbow, farther from us, hooks over the back of his wooden chair. He turns his face so his chin is pulled slightly back to look at us over his left shoulder with dark eyes under dark brows. His cheeks are flushed and his light brown mustache frames his pink lips, parted in a smile. His straight brown hair falls to his ears under a wide-brimmed hat as wide as his shoulders. The brim is pushed up and is broad enough that it covers the crown of the hat. A flat, white, lace-edged collar is tied with a red ribbon at his throat. Wide lace cuffs extend back along his forearms over his pecan-brown jacket, which is lined with a row of shiny buttons down the front. His left hand, closer to us, seems to rest on his lap just out of sight, so that elbow juts toward us. His other hand wraps in a fist around the finial of the chair back. He sits beyond an oval opening painted to resemble a stone frame within the rectangular panel. The face of the oval frame and the background behind the man are shades of peanut and fawn brown. The painting is created with fluid and loose brushstrokes, especially in the clothing.

Media Options

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Frans Hals was the preeminent portrait painter in Haarlem, the most important artistic center of Holland in the early part of the seventeenth century. He was famous for his uncanny ability to portray his subjects with relatively few bold brushstrokes, and often used informal poses to enliven his portraits. Even though the young man’s turned pose and the artist’s extremely free brushwork have a genrelike quality, this small panel may very well be a portrait of Hals’ teenage son Harmen, whose appearance later in life is known from a drawing in the Haarlem archives.

Hals frequently used an illusionistic oval framing device for small-scale portraits he painted in the 1610s and 1620s. Although some of these small portraits served as modelli for engraved portraits, no print related to this image seems to have been made. The close-up composition and informal pose allowed Hals to reinforce the dynamic, three-dimensionality of the young man, whose elbow projects beyond the painted picture frame into the viewer’s space.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 29.3 x 23.2 cm (11 9/16 x 9 1/8 in.)
    framed: 46.7 x 40.6 x 5.7 cm (18 3/8 x 16 x 2 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1940.1.12

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: A Young Man in a Large Hat, 1626/1629

This horizontal painting shows a group of eight light-skinned musicians and onlookers gathered closely around a rectangular, carpet-covered table. The front edge of the table runs parallel to the bottom edge of the painting, and seems close to us. Shown from about the waist up, the men and women’s vivid lapis-blue, coral-red, buttercup-yellow, lilac-purple, and moss-green garments fall in crisp folds. Bright reflections on the fabric suggest a satin-like material. Two women wear feathers in their hair and one man’s hat is plumed. One man, wearing crimson red and black, sits with his back to us to our left on the near side of the table. He holds the neck of a bass viol, about the size of a cello, with his left hand, and points to pages of an open music book with the bow in his right hand. The other people cluster on the far side of the table. A man to the left plays a violin; a woman at the center plays a guitar-sized bandora, and a woman to our right plays a lute. The musicians, along with a man who leans over the table from between the two women, look down at the music books. A young man behind the woman at the center holds up a glass of pale liquid with his right hand as he touches his left forefinger to his smiling lips. A man and woman stand close together in the background to our right, in the top right corner of the canvas.

Scholarly Series:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

C.J.G. Bredius, Woerden, by 1918.[1] (M. Knoedler & Co., New York and Paris); sold 30 January 1929 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington; deeded 28 June 1937 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1940 to NGA.
[1] According to Hans Schneider, "Ein neues Bild von Frans Fals," Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt 30 (1918-1919), 368, Bredius acquired this sketch for 60 florins as part of an inheritance. The painting was at that time attributed to Jan Miense Molenaer. The attribution to Hals was made by Abraham Bredius, who persuaded his relative to lend the painting for a while to the Mauritshuis. Later references to earlier owners Van der Hoop and Slochteren (see Seymour Slive, Frans Hals, 3 vols., London and New York, 1970-1974, 3: 41-42, no. 66) cannot be confirmed.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1919

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1919.

1989

  • Frans Hals, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, 1989-1990, no. 39 (cat. by Seymour Slive).

1995

  • Adriaen Brouwer: Youth Making a Face, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1995-1996, not in brochure.

1998

  • A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, no. 24.

2009

  • Judith Leyster, 1609-1660, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2009, unnumbered brochure, fig. 6.

Bibliography

1918

  • Schneider, Hans. "Ein neues Bild von Frans Hals." Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt 30 (1918–1919): 368–369, repro.

1921

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt: wiedergefundene Gemälde (1910-1922). Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 27. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921: 309, repro. 50.

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals: des meisters Gemälde in 318 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 28. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921: 309, repro. 50.

1923

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals: des Meisters Gemälde in 322 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 28. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, Berlin, and Leipzig, 1923: 309, repro. 51.

1930

  • Dülberg, Franz. Franz Hals: Ein Leben und ein Werk. Stuttgart, 1930: 94, 95, 219, repro.

1936

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals Paintings in America. Westport, Connecticut, 1936: no. 16, repro.

1941

  • Trivas, Numa S. The Paintings of Frans Hals. New York, 1941: 31-32, no. 23, pl. 36.

  • National Gallery of Art. Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1941: 96, no. 498.

1942

  • National Gallery of Art. Book of illustrations. 2nd ed. Washington, 1942: no. 498, repro. 26, 249.

1949

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 75, repro.

1965

  • National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 65.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 58, repro.

1970

  • Slive, Seymour. Frans Hals. 3 vols. National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art. London, 1970–1974: 2(1970):pl. 110, 3(1974):41-42, no. 66.

1972

  • Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: Entwicklung, Werkanalyse, Gesamtkatolog. Berlin, 1972: 27, 80, 201, no. 42.

1974

  • Montagni, E.C. L’opera completa di Frans Hals. Classici dell’Arte. Milan, 1974: 94-95, no. 67, repro.

1975

  • National Gallery of Art. European paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Washington, 1975: 170, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 268-269, no. 354, repro.

1976

  • Montagni, E.C. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Frans Hals. Translated by Simone Darses. Les classiques de l'art. Paris, 1976: no. 67, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 268, no. 348, color repro.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 197, repro.

1989

  • Slive, Seymour. Frans Hals. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem. London, 1989: 244, no. 39, repro.

1990

  • Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: The Complete Work. Translated by Jürgen Riehle. New York, 1990: 277, no. 48, 234-235, fig. 123b.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 66-68, color repro. 67.

1998

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. A Collector's Cabinet. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998: 66, no. 24.

2009

  • Hofrichter, Frima Fox. Judith Leyster (1609-1660). Exh. brochure. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009: 4, fig. 6.

Wikidata ID

Q17818628

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