Portrait of a Gentleman

1650/1652

Frans Hals

Artist, Dutch, c. 1582/1583 - 1666

Shown from the thighs up, a man with pale, peachy skin, wearing a black suit, cape, and hat, stands with one hand on his hip against an elephant-gray background in this vertical portrait painting. The portrait is loosely painted in some areas, especially in the clothing and background, though the face is more detailed. His body is angled slightly to our right so one shoulder juts toward us, to our left, and he turns his face to look at us brown eyes. One bushy brow is slightly arched. He has a long, bumped nose, soft jowls along his jawline, and perhaps a mole almost lost in shadow on his left cheek, to our right. His wide, pale peach lips are closed and framed by a thin, brushy mustache and a patch of hair under his lower lip. His shoulder-length, wavy, light brown hair curls around his face, and he wears a tall, black hat with a wide brim turned over his right ear, to our left. A hip-length black cloak drapes over a long-sleeved black jacket. A wide, flat, white collar lies across his shoulders and is tied with fluffy tassels that hang on his chest. Streaks of slate-gray suggest horizontal bands next to buttons down the front of his jacket and along the forearms, above white cuffs. He stands with his right arm, to our left, hanging by his side, and he holds the fabric of his cloak in a loose fist. The back of his other hand rests against his left hip, to our right, and a few streaks of parchment brown suggest a glove in that hand. The background is painted with thin, blended areas of gray and peanut brown.

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.

Hals portrayed this gentleman with his right shoulder turned slightly toward the viewer and his left arm akimbo. His shoulder-length, wavy brown hair falls on either side of his face from under a black hat with a moderately wide brim. With his right hand, he gently pulls his black cape forward, while his left hand holds one of his gloves. The man’s identity is not known, but his fashionable attire and dignified bearing indicate that he was a person of means. The three-quarter-length pose adds to the dignity of this debonair man.

The bold and sure brushwork of this portrait are consistent with similar works executed by the mature master in the early 1650s. The sketchy contours around the hat and cape reveal that Hals improvised and adjusted his design as he worked.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 114 x 85 cm (44 7/8 x 33 7/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1942.9.29

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: Portrait of a Gentleman, 1650/1652

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

Probably bequeathed by Lord Frederick Campbell [1729-1816] to William Pitt Amherst, 1st earl Amherst of Arracan [1773-1857], Montreal, Sevenoaks, Kent;[1] by inheritance to his son, William Pitt Amherst, 2nd earl Amherst of Arracan [1805-1886]; by inheritance to his son, William Archer Amherst, 3rd earl Amherst of Arracan [1836-1910]; by inheritance to his brother, Hugh Amherst, 4th earl Amherst of Arracan [1856-1927];[2] (Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris); sold 13 January 1911 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] According to Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century..., 8 vols., trans. from the German edition, London, 1907-1927, 3: 294, the painting was bequeathed by Lord Frederick Campbell to an ancestor of Earl Amherst. According to notes of Edith Standen, Widener's secretary for art, in NGA curatorial files, the painting was bequeathed about 1820 by Lord Frederick Campbell to Lord Amherst. The Getty Provenance Index identified this ancestor of Earl Amherst as William Pitt.
[2] Charles Sedelmeyer, Illustrated Catalogue of the Eleventh Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters, Paris, 1911, no. 11, lists the work as "from the collection of Lord Amherst, in whose family it had been for nearly one hundred years," and the transcript of the bill of sale from Sedelmeyer Gallery to Widener (in NGA curatorial files) repeats this information. "The Earl Amherst" lent the painting to exhibitions in London in 1894 and 1910.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1894

  • Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1894, no. 81, as Portrait of a Burgomaster.

1910

  • Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1910, no. 89, as Portrait of a Burgomaster.

1911

  • 100 Paintings by Old Masters, Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris, 1911, no. 11.

1985

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1985.

1989

  • Frans Hals, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, 1989-1990, no. 71, repro.

1997

  • Rembrandt and the Golden Age: Dutch Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 1997, unnumbered brochure.

2012

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 2012-2013.

Bibliography

1894

  • Royal Academy of Arts. Exhibition of works by the old masters, and by deceased masters of the British School. Exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1894: 20, no. 81.

1902

  • Davies, Gerald S. Frans Hals. London, 1902: 148, no. 81.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 3(1910):84, no. 294.

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 3(1910):83, no. 294.

1909

  • Arundel Club. Sixth Year's Publications. London, 1909: no. 9, repro.

  • Moes, Ernst Wilhelm. Frans Hals: sa vie et son oeuvre. Translated by J. de Bosschere. Brussels, 1909: 107, no. 162.

1910

  • "New Prints." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 16, no. 82 (1910): 237-238.

  • Royal Academy of Arts. Exhibition of works by the old masters and by deceased masters of the British school. Exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1910: 26, no. 89.

1911

  • Sedelmeyer, Charles. Illustrated catalogue of the eleventh series of 100 paintings by old masters of the Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French and English schools, being a portion of the Sedelmeyer Gallery. Paris, 1911: no. 11.

1913

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis, and Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Pictures in the collection of P. A. B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early German, Dutch & Flemish Schools. Philadelphia, 1913: unpaginated, repro.

1914

  • Sedelmeyer, Charles. Hundred masterpieces. A selection from the pictures by old masters which form or have formed part of the Sedelmeyer Gallery. Paris, 1914: 40, no.18, repro.

  • Bode, Wilhelm von, and Moritz Julius Binder. Frans Hals: Sein Leben und seine Werke. 2 vols. Berlin, 1914: 2:66, no. 247, pl. 156.

  • Bode, Wilhelm von, and Moritz Julius Binder. Frans Hals: His Life and Work. 2 vols. Translated by Maurice W. Brockwell. Berlin, 1914: 2:19, no. 247, pl. 156.

1921

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals: des meisters Gemälde in 318 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 28. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921: 320, repro. 242.

1923

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals: des Meisters Gemälde in 322 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 28. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, Berlin, and Leipzig, 1923: 321, repro. 256.

1930

  • Dülberg, Franz. Frans Hals: Ein Leben und ein Werk. Stuttgart, 1930: 194, 198, repro. 196.

1931

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 84, repro.

1932

  • Hind, Arthur M. Rembrandt: Being the Substance of the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures Delivered before Harvard University 1930-1931. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1932: xiv, 89, pl. 64.

1935

  • Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 336, no. 166, repro. 164.

1936

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Frans Hals Paintings in America. Westport, Connecticut, 1936: no. 97, repro.

1938

  • Waldmann, Emil. "Die Sammlung Widener." Pantheon 22 (November 1938): 341.

1939

  • Tietze, Hans. Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939: no. 166, repro. 164.

1942

  • National Gallery of Art. Works of art from the Widener collection. Washington, 1942: 5.

1948

  • National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 50, repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 312, repro.

1965

  • National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 66.

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. 302; 3(1974):88, 99, no. 191.

1972

  • Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: Entwicklung, Werkanalyse, Gesamtkatolog. Berlin, 1972: 110-111, 155, 205, no. 145, figs. 163, 167.

1974

  • Montagni, E.C. L’opera completa di Frans Hals. Classici dell’Arte. Milan, 1974: 106, no. 183, 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. 355, color repro.

1976

  • Montagni, E.C. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Frans Hals. Translated by Simone Darses. Les classiques de l'art. Paris, 1976: no. 183, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 268, no. 349, color repro.

1985

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

1986

  • Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids and Kampen, 1986: 309.

1989

  • Slive, Seymour. Frans Hals. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem. London, 1989: 328-330, no. 71, repro.

1990

  • Grimm, Claus. Frans Hals: The Complete Work. Translated by Jürgen Riehle. New York, 1990: 189, fig. 69, 194-195, 289, no. 135.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 89-91, color repro. 90.

1997

  • Chrysler Museum of Art. Rembrandt and the Golden Age: Dutch paintings from the National Gallery of Art. Exh. brochure. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk. Washington, 1997: unnumbered repro.

Wikidata ID

Q18025591

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