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diff --git a/42114-8.txt b/42114-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1450287..0000000 --- a/42114-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1734 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Franz Hals, by Edgcumbe Staley - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Franz Hals - -Author: Edgcumbe Staley - -Editor: T. Leman Hare - -Release Date: February 17, 2013 [EBook #42114] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANZ HALS *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd, Paul Clark and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - Transcriber's Note: - - Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as - possible. "Scherijver" has been changed to "Schrijver" at each - occurrence. - - Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. - OE ligatures have been expanded. - - - - - MASTERPIECES - IN COLOUR - EDITED BY-- - T. LEMAN HARE - - - - -FRANZ HALS - - - - -IN THE SAME SERIES - - - ARTIST. AUTHOR. - - VELAZQUEZ. S. L. BENSUSAN. - REYNOLDS. S. L. BENSUSAN. - TURNER. C. LEWIS HIND. - ROMNEY. C. LEWIS HIND. - GREUZE. ALYS EYRE MACKLIN. - BOTTICELLI. HENRY B. BINNS. - ROSSETTI. LUCIEN PISSARRO. - BELLINI. GEORGE HAY. - FRA ANGELICO. JAMES MASON. - REMBRANDT. JOSEF ISRAELS. - LEIGHTON. A. LYS BALDRY. - RAPHAEL. PAUL G. KONODY. - HOLMAN HUNT. MARY E. COLERIDGE. - TITIAN. S. L. BENSUSAN. - MILLAIS. A. LYS BALDRY. - CARLO DOLCI. GEORGE HAY. - GAINSBOROUGH. MAX ROTHSCHILD. - TINTORETTO. S. L. BENSUSAN. - LUINI. JAMES MASON. - FRANZ HALS. EDGCUMBE STALEY. - - -_In Preparation_ - - VAN DYCK. PERCY M. TURNER. - WHISTLER. T. MARTIN WOOD. - LEONARDO DA VINCI. M. W. BROCKWELL. - RUBENS. S. L. BENSUSAN. - BURNE-JONES. A. LYS BALDRY. - J. F. MILLET. PERCY M. TURNER. - CHARDIN. PAUL G. KONODY. - FRAGONARD. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - HOLBEIN. S. L. BENSUSAN. - BOUCHER. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - VIGÉE LE BRUN. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - WATTEAU. C. LEWIS HIND. - MURILLO. S. L. BENSUSAN. - -AND OTHERS. - - [Illustration: PLATE I.--THE LAUGHING CAVALIER. Frontispiece - - (Wallace Collection, London) - - Painted in 1624. Hals called it "Portrait of an Officer," and why, - and how, it gained its present title, no one knows. On the back of - the canvas we read--"Aeta Suæ 26 Ao. 1624." The "officer" is _not_ - laughing; he is merely showing good conceit of himself in - particular, and disdain of the world in general! It is a rare study - in expression, now a scowl, now a leer, alternating as one looks - upon the handsome young face. Whilst the details of the costume are - as rich as may be, the colours are few and beautifully blended, a - _tour de force_ in technical skill. The picture was purchased by its - original owner, Mijnheer M. Meuwlehuys of Haarlem, for £80; at the - Pourtalës sale, in 1865, Sir Richard Wallace gave £2040 for it.] - - - - - Franz Hals - - BY EDGCUMBE STALEY - - ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT - REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR - - [Illustration] - - LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK - NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. - - - - -FOREWORD - - -"Franz Hals was a great painter; for truth of character, indeed, he was -the greatest painter that ever existed.... He _made_ no beauties, his -portraits are of people such as we meet every day in the streets.... He -possessed one great advantage over many other men--his mechanical power -was such that he was able to hit off a portrait on the instant. He was -able to shoot the bird flying--so to speak--with all its freshness about -it, which even Titian does not seem to have done.... If I had wanted an -_exact likeness_ I should have preferred Franz Hals." So said James -Northcote, the Royal Academician, talking with his friend James Ward, -upon Art and artists, in the little back parlour of his humble dwelling, -39 Argyll Street, long ago absorbed in the premises of a great drapery -establishment. - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Plate - - I. The Laughing Cavalier Frontispiece - Wallace Collection, London - Page - II. Old Hille Bobbe 14 - Royal Museum, Berlin - - III. The Merry Trio 24 - In America (a copy by Dirk Hals, Royal Museum, Berlin) - - IV. Franz Hals and his Wife 34 - Rijks Museum, Amsterdam - - V. The Officers of the Shooting Guild of St Adriaen 40 - Town Hall, Haarlem - - VI. The Jolly Mandolinist (Der Naar) 50 - Collection of Baron G. Rothschild, Paris (a copy by - Dirk Halls in Rijks Museum, Amsterdam) - - VII. The Market Girl (La Bohémienne) 60 - Louvre Gallery, Paris - - VIII. Nurse and Child 70 - Royal Museum, Berlin - - - - -[Illustration: Picture of Hals] - -Hals was an ancient and honourable patrician family, intimately -connected with Haarlem for well-nigh three hundred years. The name first -appears in the annals of the city in 1350, and again and again -individuals bearing it held the offices of Burgomaster, Treasurer, and -_Schepen_--Alderman or Magistrate. - -Pieter Claes Hals, Franz' father, was appointed a magistrate in 1575. In -1577 he was one of the _Regenten_, or Governors of the city Orphanage, -and in 1578 he became President of that famous institution. - -His profession has not been indicated, but that he was a loyal and -influential citizen is proved by his holding a command in the garrison -which so heroically defended the city against the Spaniards in 1572. - -Wholesale pillage by the hated invader, however, reduced many a wealthy -burgher family to penury, and compelled them to seek the recovery of -their fortunes elsewhere. - -The venerable city of Antwerp, by reason of the enterprise of her -merchants, offered great attractions. Thither fled many a Haarlemer, and -among them went forth Mijnheer Schepen Hals and his newly married wife. -It must have been a great trial to domesticated Lysbeth Coper to have to -pack up what was left of their household crocks and seek a new home. - -It was in the spring of 1579, a little more than a year after their -wedding day, that they started upon their journey. They made first for -Mechlin, where a branch of the family was settled, and they were -welcomed with cordial hospitality by their relatives. - - [Illustration: PLATE II.--OLD HILLE BOBBE - - (Royal Museum, Berlin) - - Painted in 1650. This ancient, wrinkled dame was what they call in - seaport towns "a sailor's mother," rather a dubious compliment to - mariners! She was a "merry toper," like many of Hals' companions, - and went from tavern to tavern to get a drink. Her real name was - Alle, or Alice Boll--easily transposed. The owl is probably a - painter's skit of the screeching, scolding old hussy! The portrait - is quite remarkable for poverty of colour. Franz was out of funds - and out of paints, but he has made the old bloodless flesh look like - life. He often painted her: he loved her odd look, if he liked not - well her scorn!] - -One whole year the couple spent in the city of lace, and a little son -was born to them, whom they registered in the name of Dirk. The greater -opportunities offered to labour and capital in the city on the Scheldt, -however, were so evident, that they once more packed up their goods and -chattels and resumed their pilgrimage. - -Antwerp was already renowned as an Art city--its painters and engravers -were of wide world fame; and Pieter Claes Hals, in full possession of -certain artistic proclivities of his family, considered that he might -more profitably make use of them there. Besides this, another branch of -the family was established in Antwerp, and members thereof were in good -positions. - -The journey from Mechlin, short as it was, partook of the pathetic -character of that of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, inasmuch as they were -no sooner housed in temporary lodgings than Mevrouw Lysbeth brought into -the world another little son. Vincenzius Laurenszoon Van der Vinne--a -devoted pupil in after years of this very baby boy--says he was born -late in 1580. There is no official record of the day of birth, but he -was registered in the good old family name of Franz. - -"Franz of Antwerp" was a designation which stuck to the great painter -right on to the end of his long career. Nothing whatever is known of his -youth, his education, or his pursuits. For twenty years neither he, nor -his parents, are named by biographers or historians. - -In 1600 Mijnheer and Mevrouw Hals found themselves once more at Haarlem, -with what thankfulness it would not be difficult to narrate. Their two -sons accompanied them, but two baby girls--Cornelia and Geertruid--were -left buried in Flemish soil. Both lads--they were grown men--at once -entered painters' studios--Dirk that of Abraam Bloemaert, and Franz that -of Karel Van Mander. - -This statement brings us up smartly, for there has been nothing to -indicate that the brothers had served apprenticeships in Art. We must -then proceed by presumption and surmise in the story of their training, -for we may be quite sure that these eminent artists would not accept -raw, untaught youths as pupils. - -Dirk and Franz had, of course, been reared in Antwerp, where the most -conspicuous teachers of painting were Otho Van Veen (1518-1629), a -painter of churches and portraits; Adam Van Noort (1557-1641), history, -large portraits, and genre; and Tobie Verghaegts (1566-1631), landscape -and architecture. - -The brothers profited by their studies under such able masters, and at -Van Noort's they doubtless made the acquaintance of their fellow-pupils, -Pieter Paul Rubens and his friend, Hendrik Van Balen. - -At Antwerp the two Hals would also be thrown into the company of Martin -de Vos, Erasmus Guellinus, Crispin Van der Broeck, the Galles, the Van -de Passes, the Wieriexes, Antonie Van Liest, Geenart Van Kampen, and -other draughtsmen, painters, and engravers. - -Probably Mijnheer Pieter Hals himself was one of the company of -specialists--scholars, writers, readers, correctors, draughtsmen, -painters, etchers, scratchers, cutters, and the like, gathered together -by the enterprise of Christopher Plantin and other leading publishers. -The two sons, therefore, had great opportunities for the development of -their family talents. - -Karel Van Mander, Franz Hals' master, the son of a noble family, was -born at Meulebeke, in Flanders, in 1548. He settled at Haarlem in 1583, -where he established himself as a teacher of drawing, and founded an -Academy of Painting in 1590. His style was historical, and he did -large-sized portraits and groups as well. - -In addition to his celebrity as a painter Van Mander was noteworthy as a -man of many parts: a historian of the Netherlands, an annotator of the -classics, a poet in the vernacular, a musician, a linguist. His most -valuable contribution to literature was his splendid "Het Schilder -Boeck" or "Book of Painters," Dutch and Flemish. - -His poem on Art, entitled "Den Handt der Edelvry Schilderconst," is full -of sage advice with respect to the manner and spirit in which a student -should approach his work; and he sums up his exhortations by saying: -"Success is only to be found in painstaking and constant observation of -all externals." He gives, as a wholesome motto to an aspiring artist, "I -will be a good painter," and, as a salutary warning against carnal -excess, the oppositive reflection: "Hoe Schilder--hoe wifder"--"As -demoralised as a painter!" - -Van Mander's "Counsels of Perfection" for the behoof of his pupils are -as excellent as they are characteristic. "Avoid," says he, "little -taverns and bad company.... Don't let anybody see that you have much -money about you.... Be careful never to say where you are going.... Be -straight and courteous, and keep out of brawls.... Get up early and set -to work.... Be on your guard against light-hearted beauties!" - -Three years before the Hals left Antwerp for their dear old home, Karel -Van Mander had been joined by two assistants in the work of the -Academy--Cornelis Cornelissen (1562-1637), and Hendrik Goltzius -(1558-1617). The former was a painter of allegory, mythology, and -portraits, a member of a celebrated artist family, and a native of -Haarlem; and the latter, the celebrated Flemish engraver, a native of -Meulebeke, famed too as a painter of landscape, history, and the nude. - -At Haarlem were flourishing, at the time of the return of Mijnheer and -Mevrouw Hals, several distinguished artists, and among them Cornelis -Vroom (1566-1640), a marine painter, gifted in seafaring genre--a merry -fellow, and an habitué of low taverns, although he lived in a fine -house, with a frescoed front, in the Zijlstraat. He introduced the young -Hals to his friends and models. - -Very many of the well-to-do citizens affected artistic studies, and -several became efficient painters. Of these Jan Van Heemsen (1570-1641), -a wealthy burgher and a friend of the Hals family, patronised Van Mander -and his pupils. He had considerable skill in painting life-size figures, -remarkable for easy pose, and animated manner--very much in the style -adopted by Franz Hals. - -These Antwerp and Haarlem worthies were the "makers" of Franz Hals in -the elementals of his art; but no sooner did he pass within the portals -of Van Mander's Academy than the door was shut and fast-barred--for all -we know of him, his life, his work, and his associates, for eleven -years; and then, we behold him assisting at a homely and interesting -function. - -In the Baptismal Registers of the Groote Keerke is the entry of a -new-born child--Herman, the son of Franz Hals and Anneke Hermanszoon, in -March 1611. Apparently he had been in no hurry to unite the bonds of -matrimony, and yet he had cause to repent at leisure, for his early -married life does not appear to have been very happy. - -Within five years, namely, in February 1616, the name of the unfortunate -Anneke crops up again, and this time in the police records. Franz is -charged with ill-treating his wife, and with intemperance; and the -charges seem to have been proven, for he was reprimanded, and only -released under solemn promise of amendment of conduct, and, further, he -was admonished to forsake drunken company! - -Poor Anneke died that self-same year, but we must not charge Franz as -the direct cause of her premature death; if he had become something of -a wastrel, as many affirm, she was probably a weakling, and they had -little in common. - -Twelve months passed, and then, with due regard to mourning conventions, -Franz Hals married Lysbeth Reyniers, of Spaedam, and took her to live in -the Peeuselaarsteeg. They were kindred souls, and lived happily together -for fifty years. - -To them were born many children--pledges of mutual love and home -restraint--Sara, in 1617; Jan, in 1618; Franz, in 1620; Adriaenjen, in -1623; Jacobus, in 1624; Reynier, in 1627; Nicolaes, in 1628; Maria, in -1631; and Pieter, in 1633; Herman, Anneke's son, making up the ten olive -branches. - -What a happy, merry home must that have been in the Peeuselaarsteeg! How -greatly must his domestic joys have heartened the worthy father, and -given vein and tone to his work! - - * * * * * - - [Illustration: PLATE III.--THE MERRY TRIO - - (In America. A copy by Dirk Hals, Royal Museum, Berlin) - - Painted in 1616. A girl of the town gaily dressed, with open - bosom--a thing abhorred by all worthy Dutch _vrouwen_--sits - willy-nilly between the knees of a Falstaffian lover. He was - probably the very pork-butcher who, in after years, became one of - Hals' heaviest creditors. A saucy apprentice is holding over the - amorous pair a coronal, not of orange-blossom but of sausages! He - has gripped his master's shoulders to make him release his hold upon - the girl's arm. Hals' treatment of the group was doubtless a - remembrance of an allegorical picture he had seen at Antwerp, "The - Feast of Love," by Franz Pourbus (1540-1601), and which now hangs in - the Wallace Collection.] - -Haarlem story is blank--Haarlem tradition is silent with respect to -Franz Hals' young manhood. The only hint that we have of his -existence is in 1604, when it is recorded that he was working still in -Van Mander's Academy. There is not the least tint of local colour, nor -the faintest trace of romance to be seen or heard until we are brought -face to face with the "Portrait of Dr. Pieter Schrijver," now at -Monsieur Warnecks' in Paris. - -Upon the picture we see "F. H." and the date, 1613. This then is the -first intimation that Franz Hals had blossomed out as a painter of -portraits! The doctor was a well-known Haarlem poet, writer, chemical -student, and art critic. He flourished between the years 1570 and 1640. -The portrait shows us a middle-aged man of serious mien, but with no -peculiar characterisation of expression or figure. It is a sombre -production--black and grey, with merely a little brick-red here and -there; but the shadows upon the skin strike one as clever. - -Franz Hals was thirty-three years of age in 1613--an age when artists -have either dismally failed and turned aside to more suitable -employment, or when they have established some sort of reputation and -their work is recognised, and examples of their style are broadcast. Not -so Franz Hals; but then there are, to be sure, scores of portraits -"attributed" to him of men and women and children to which no dates are -attached, and many of these are comparable with the portraits of -Schrijver in technique, colour, and finish. That he worked laboriously -to maintain his family, if for no other reason--and artists had to work -hard in those days of small payments--is evident both directly and -indirectly. - -A few--very few--studies are extant, in black crayon upon dull blue -paper, which are noteworthy for simplicity and firmness. Two of these -are in the Teyler Museum at Haarlem, but they are evidently sketches for -his first great "Group of Shooters," in the Stadhuis. Three or four are -in England--one at the British Museum, and the Albertina Collection at -Vienna has a few, and that seems to be all. - -Where, may we ask, are his studio canvases, his early panel portraits, -and all the thousand-and-one sketches and freaks of a young artist? -Perchance destroyed--possibly otherwise attributed--probably hidden away -in the high-pitched lofts of old Haarlem houses and _hofjes_ or asylums, -and in many an oaken chest and press. - -Indirectly we are assured that he had been, all the thirteen years of -his residence in Haarlem, an indefatigable worker in the art of -portraiture--from the simple fact of his intimacy with Mijnheer Aert Jan -Druivesteen (1564-1617), who five times served the high office of -Burgomaster of Haarlem. He was a man of independent means and refined -tastes, a lover of artists, and himself also a very passable painter of -landscape and animals, which he painted solely for amusement. - -Druivesteen was a personal friend of Franz Hals' father, and a constant -visitor at his house. From the first he greatly encouraged the young art -student, and many a time sat to him for his portrait. Alas! those -portraits have all disappeared or are undistinguishable. - -From the influential position of his patron it is only a fair deduction -to suppose that other city magnates and leading townspeople also sought -their portraits at the hands of the Burgomaster's _protégé_. - -The vogue of portraiture has always been the token of worldly success, -and eminent personages--and the reverse--from the days of the Pharaohs -to our own, have been eager that their physiognomies should be handed -down to posterity. This fashion took fast hold upon the opulent burghers -of the Netherlands, and they valued a painter in proportion as his work -ministered to their self-esteem. - -Franz Hals, we may be sure, became very soon quite alive to this, -perhaps pardonable exhibition of personal vanity. No doubt the favourite -pose in his serious portraits--arms akimbo, and his favourite facial -expression--contemptuous satisfaction, were the natural, yet tactful, -outcome of his observations of men and manners! - -But we are getting on a little too fast, for we must turn aside for a -moment and look at the "Portrait of Professor Jan Hogaarts" of the -Faculty of Theology in the University of Leyden, who was an able -teacher and protagonist, and a considerable student and writer of Latin. -Franz Hals painted his portrait in 1614, with similar treatment as that -of Dr. Schrijver. These are the only two works, signed and dated, during -fourteen years, and then our eyes are fastened in mute astonishment upon -the walls of the Haarlem Stadhuis, where, in 1616, was unveiled a -stupendous composition. - -This is a revelation unique and overwhelming. We are in the grip of a -master-hand, and we must bow down before a genius who has, comet-like, -flashed upon us from the great unknown! There is nothing tentative, -nothing meretricious, in this masterpiece. It is a portrait group, -half-length, life-size, of eleven "Officers of the Shooting Guild of St. -Joris" (St. George). - -The demand for great group portraits had just set in. The men who had -ridden in on the top of the waves of new institutions looked to have -their personalities placed in juxtaposition to those of monarchs, -rulers, and generals. Hence, go where you will in Holland--through -churches, museums, galleries, or Town Halls, you are faced by portrait -groups of life-size figures, whether they be of Governments and -Corporations, or Guilds and Institutions. - -But, we are standing just inside the great Audience Hall of Haarlem -Stadhuis, and we hesitate to advance, for eighty-four vigorous and -solemn gentlemen and ladies are bending their steadfast gaze upon us, as -though resenting our intrusion! Eight picture groups by Hals cover the -walls--a pageant of portraits--five are _Schutters-stuken_ (Shooting -Groups), and three _Regenten-stuken_ (Governors of Alms Houses). - -Guilds of marksmen in the Netherlands originated at a period when there -were no standing armies, and when the Trade Guilds were at the -full height of their prosperity. They served as rallying bases -in times of public danger, and as happy _rendezvous_ in days of -pleasure--"Soldier-Socials" we might call them. - -Annual shooting contests for prizes were held at the _Schutters-Doelen_, -or butts--hence the name usually attached to the portrait-groups--and -periodical banquets provided, where good fellowship accompanied good -cheer, and where the toast of "Women, Wine, and Wit" never sated! - -The commission to paint the first of these groups, "The Annual Banquet -of the Officers of the Shooting Guild of St. Joris" (St. George), was, -no doubt, given to Hals at the instance of his good friend Burgomaster -Druivesteen, who was himself a member of the Guild. - -There are twelve Officers, including _Overste_, or Colonel, Pieter -Schoutts Jacobsen, who sits in front of the table with his arms akimbo. -They are middle-aged men, some aging, and are full-bearded and -moustached, except the two smart young standard-bearers. The party has -just finished dinner and toasts are being drunk. Through the window of -the room is a view of trees and buildings. The blacks and greys and -greens of the picture are relieved by the brilliant scarlet silken -scarves. - -The effect of this splendid picture upon the men of Haarlem was -emphatic, and every Shooting Guild wished to follow suit; but the -painter was in no humour to wear himself out with toil, he preferred -the relaxation of convivial society. - -In all the Dutch centres of population were numbers of "social" and -political clubs--some perhaps were merely drinking clubs. Among -their guests the most popular was the "Rederijkers-kammer de -Wijngaar-drankes," which had branches everywhere. Although nominally -"The Guild of Rhetoricians," the study of rhetoric _per se_ had nothing -whatever to do with its objects. It was, in short, a free-and-easy -Artists' Club. As "Heminnaars," or Fellows, Franz and Dirk Hals were -admitted to membership in 1617. - -The men of Haarlem were merry fellows--they only put on their serious -manners with their Sunday clothes--and every tavern had its clientèle, -with flute, viol, and mandoline. They entered impromptu into the ranks -of entertainers. No _kermiss_, or fair, the country round, but had its -rollicking company of students. They played high jinks with jolly gipsy -girls, and drank with festive yokels. This life exactly suited the two -Hals brothers; moreover, it gave them opportunities, which Franz used -significantly, for studying character, and he gathered golden -laurels in his orgies. - - [Illustration: PLATE IV.--FRANZ HALS AND HIS WIFE - - (Rijks Museum, Amsterdam) - - Painted in 1624. No painter has left a more charming and more - characteristic portrait of himself and his wife than this. There - they sit, all in a garden green, as happy as happy can be. The - "idea" was Lysbeth's. She knew Franz was painting other couples and - getting wealth and fame--why not their own? She put on her best - go-to-Groote-Keerke gown and a new cap, and made Franz don his Town - Hall suit; she gauffered very carefully his cuffs, and tied round - his neck his finest Van Dyck collar. The pose is splendidly - realistic--good-humouredly she smiles, but he is in restless mood, - as was his wont, and so she just grasps his shoulder--a reminder of - the sweet restraint of happy married life! For fifty years they - lived together, sharing their sorrows and their joys.] - -Still the Hals, and their companions of the tankard and the brush, were -downright, loyal honest citizens, and all were enrolled in the ranks of -the Civic Guard--Franz and Dirk in 1618. - -"The Banquet of the Shooting Guild of St. Joris" was not the only work -which Franz Hals signed and dated in 1616; at least two other very -striking portraits were finished. "Pieter Van der Morsch," now labelled -"The Herring Seller," was a beadle in the service of the Municipality of -Leyden, and a member of the "Guild of Rhetoric" of that city--an oldish -man with sparse locks and furrowed face. He is holding up a herring, and -on the canvas some one has scratched, "WIE BEGEERT?"--"Who'll buy?" - -This portrait is the earliest dated work which exhibits Hals' -speciality--_characterisation_. It now belongs to the Earl of -Northbrook, but it sold in 1780 at a public auction in Leyden for the -ridiculous sum of £1, 5s. - -"The Merry Trio" belongs to the same year, 1616. A girl of the town in -gala dress is seated, willy-nilly, between the knees of a Falstaffian -lover, whilst a saucy apprentice boy holds over the couple a mock -coronal of sausages! The man was evidently a pork butcher; probably one -of Hals' creditors later on. The pose and play were probably suggested -by an allegorical picture which had charmed the young artist in -Antwerp--"The Feast of Love," by Frans Pourbus (1540-1601), now in the -Wallace Collection. This humorous composition is in America; but a good -copy, said to be by Dirk Hals, hangs in the Royal Museum in Berlin. - -But years pass on once more, and there is little enough of episode to -record in the life of our accomplished, jovial painter. Hals was now a -happy father, and his heart went out to children--his own were growing -fast, and their infant moods arrested him. Down by the sea-dunes, too, -were lads and lasses--strong and lithe of build, bronzed with the sun -and spray, full of life's gaiety. Of these he took liberal toll--just as -did Leonardo da Vinci of posturing peasant youths and maidens in Tuscan -villages. A merry suite of "Fisher-boys" and "Fisher-girls" danced off -his palette, and now they display his genre delightfully in many a -picture gallery. - -There were also dignified patrons of Hals' brush in Haarlem, and rich -burghers and their wives sat to him by scores. At Cassel, dated 1620, -are portraits of a Haarlem gentleman and his spouse--the leading pair in -his procession of full-dress Mijnheers and Mevrouws "posed for -posterity," but rich in characterisation of face and hands--the latter a -very marked feature. - -The years 1622, 1623, and 1624 are "red-lettered" for the historian of -Franz Hals, for among the portraits he dated then are three of -surpassing interest--"His own Likeness," "Himself and his Wife," and -"The Laughing Cavalier." The first of these belongs to the Duke of -Devonshire; it hangs at Devonshire House in Piccadilly, and has never -been exhibited. - -This is "Franz Hals" as he wished to be known to posterity. His head, -slightly on one side, is marked by strong features--a nose which shows -strength of purpose, a mouth which indicates quiet decision, and dreamy -eyes, looking craftily for new impressions. It is a self-satisfied, -reflective face, with nothing base about it. The folded arms show grasp -of purpose and individuality of action, whilst the figure of the man is -in repose. The costume is sumptuous, full sleeves of heavy black silk -brocade, with the latest conceits in buttons and ruffled cuffs. He wears -the jewelled token of his Shooting Guild and the be-buttoned cloak of a -gentleman of the period. His frill is full, and it is of the finest -edged cambric--quite an ultra-mark of fashion! His hat is black -velvet--slouched, and steeple-crowned.[1] - -[1] See page 11. - -Merry groups and jovial couples were, of course, quite in Hals' way, -though probably he painted them for his own pleasure rather than for -love of gain. "Junkheer Rampf and his Lass" (1623)--somewhere -in Paris, Mons. Cocret's "Merry Supper Party," and a number of -"Rommel-pot-speelers"--perhaps "Drinks all round!" in English--at the -Hague, Berlin, and elsewhere, offer ample evidence of the painter's -free-and-easy manners and humorous genre. - - [Illustration: PLATE V.--THE OFFICERS OF THE SHOOTING GUILD OF ST. - ADRIAEN - - (Town Hall, Haarlem) - - Painted in 1633. This, the second group of the St. Adriaen Officers, - is the finest of all the five "Schutters-Doelen" at Haarlem. For - clever arrangement of the figures and instantaneous catch of - character it is unsurpassed. The armourer had furbished up the old - halberds of the Company, which, with the banners, are quite - significant features. The costumes are peculiarly rich and the - sashes gaily ample; whilst the variety of ruffs and collars, and the - trimming of the beards, indicate the vagaries of fashion. The - Colonel--Jan Claesz Van Loo, with his hunt-stick--no doubt he was - getting gouty!--sits, looking at you full in the face. The other - Officers have all their eyes upon you; they are inviting you to join - in their conviviality. The background of trees and farm-buildings - suggests the delights of a picnic in the open air.] - -Mevrouw Lysbeth knew all about these junketings, and, good soul, she -made no complaint, but on the contrary she challenged Franz to add his -own portrait with hers to the suite of jolly partners. - -She put on her best black brocade gown, with its modish heliotrope -bodice, and went to the expense of the newest things in ruffs and cuffs. -Her hair--she was not richly dowered that way!--she coiffed neatly round -her head, and tied on the nattiest of little lace caps. - -With Franz, no doubt, she had some trouble. He disliked very much -fashionable garments, but inasmuch as he had something of a position to -keep up as a member of the Haarlem municipality, she persuaded him to -get into his Groote Keerke and Stadhuis suit of black silk and stuff. -She brushed well his best beaver hat, carefully gauffered his cambric -cuffs, and pinned round his throat the best Mechlin lace collar he -possessed. His shoes were new and neatly bowed, and he, worthy fellow, -responded to his loving wife's playful whim by putting on--a thing quite -unusual for him--a pair of white kid gloves. - -And there they sit, Franz and Lysbeth, all in a garden green, under a -shady oak tree, with a vision of architectural gardens and open fertile -country beyond. The pose was most certainly her idea, not his, for she -is smiling most good-humouredly at having gained her end! He would be up -and off, but she checks his movement, and the hand-grasp upon his -shoulder is a reminder of the sweet restraint of happy married life. - -When this masterpiece was painted, the Hals were in comfortable -circumstances. The success of the "Group of Shooters" had greatly -enriched Franz, and his studio was thronged by opulent patrons, each -clamouring for his portrait. - -The third picture of note in 1624 was "The Laughing Cavalier." Why, and -when, it gained its title nobody knows--in most catalogues it is -correctly called "Portrait of an Officer," a member of one of the -Shooting Guilds. - -Whoever the gentleman may be, he had an uncommonly good conceit of -himself. He is not laughing, but expressing disdain of the world in -general, and amused contempt of you and me, who go to look at him, in -particular. The characterisation is so cleverly managed that one almost -fancies his expression changes; he appears to scowl and then to relax, -just as in actual life our features involuntarily keep up an incessant -play. His dress is unusually decorative, the colours are few but -superlatively arranged, the whole effect is wonderfully lifelike. It was -the happiest of happy thoughts which suggested the placing side by side, -at the Wallace Collection, masterpieces of the three greatest portrait -painters the world has seen--Velazquez, Rembrandt, and Hals. "The -Laughing Cavalier" loses nothing by proximity to "The Lady with a Fan" -and "The Unmerciful Servant." - -But Hals had a mind to paint simpler subjects than these, and he turned -to children once more, as exhibiting most naturally and spontaneously -variety of character and expression. "Singing Boys," "Singing Girls," -"Flute Players," "Mandolinists," and others, playing only pranks and -tricks, he welcomed to his studio--another Leonardo da Vinci trait! - -He noted their expanding cheeks, he heard their melodious notes, he -understood the motions of their limbs, and fixed them all. They make us -smile with pleasure, so natural and lifelike are they at Haarlem, -Berlin, Brussels, Cologne, Cassel, and Königsberg--many of 1625, and -more elsewhere undated, but similarly characterised. - -Two or three "_Zechbruders_" or "Jolly Topers," and some gay young -sparks with mandolines--"_Schalks naar_" or "Buffoon," as each is quite -erroneously styled--walked out of Hals' studio in 1625. Doubtless they -were skits or caricatures of fellow-artists, for the clever painters of -Haarlem were not quite "Fools" or "Buffoons," nor were they all only -"Jolly Topers." - -All this time Hals was making arrangements with his old patrons of St. -Joris' Guild for another great portrait-group to be put up in the -Stadhuis. This was finished in 1627--it represents eleven Officers. - -On comparing this Group with its predecessor we are struck with its -greater freedom and freshness. Hals was now painting more brilliantly, -and his colours blend more naturally. The success of the first St. -Joris' Group had fired the imagination of members of a rival Company, -the St. Adriaen's Guild; and it was determined that their Officers -should also adorn the walls of the Stadhuis. Consequently Hals had two -great groups to do, and no sooner had the carpenter hangers got St. -Joris No. 2 into position than their services were requisitioned for the -St. Adriaen's Group. - -If profitable, nevertheless the painting of such portrait groups was -very troublesome, and no doubt Hals was very thankful to see the last in -his studio of these pictures. The jealousies, the corrections, and the -interruptions, in dealing with a lot of conceited Officers, must have -almost maddened him. Each man had his own ideas--and Hals had his. Each -wished to be as prominent as possible, and to cut a dash at his brother -officers' expense. Arrangement after arrangement failed. - -At last Hals decided the matter once and for all. He declined positively -to paint a row of figures--he intended to make a picture. Therefore he -proposed an admirable plan, and one which recouped him well to -boot--those who paid most should have the places of honour! - -The Colonel--generally one of the wealthiest members of the Guild--paid -the highest fee, and he is the most conspicuous figure in all the -"_Doelen_" pictures. Captains paid for second places, Lieutenants for -third, and Sergeants looked out from the back. The Standard-bearers were -exceptional individuals--the sons of rich fathers, who paid well for -good stations. - -Again, a Shooting-brother was mulcted higher for a full-face than one -who had to put up with a three-quarter likeness--profiles were ruled -out. Once more, notice the cunning of the painter, every one of his -"_Schutters_" is an athlete, with a striking face! Each wears his best -dress, his sword hilt is of the latest Italian pattern, and each is -showing himself off to the greatest advantage--all the drakes are swans! - -The St. Adriaen's Group of 1627 consists of twelve Officers, with -Colonel Jan Claesz Van Loo in the place of honour. Dinner is over, and -the diners are discussing the latest bit of gossip before separating. -One of the sergeants has been caught in the act of pocketing a bunch of -grapes, and his fellow is holding out a silver dish for its restoration. - -Fashions, both of hair and clothes, of course, are similar to those worn -by the St. Joris' Schutters, except that the younger men are quite _à la -mode_ with respect to their slashed and puffed full sleeves. Of the two -groups this is the least mannered, and there is more atmosphere and -greater animation. Crude contrasting colours are softened down, and -luminous grey shadows make play around the men. Each individual's -expression is personal and original, and the characterisation of each is -so wonderfully full of life that, if any one of them was to walk off the -wall and greet us, we should feel that we knew just what sort of a man -he was. - -This is perfect portraiture; it is more--it is clairvoyancy in paint. - - * * * * * - -In the decade 1630-1640 Franz Hals was acknowledged as first painter in -Holland. He stood head and shoulders above everybody else in his freedom -of treatment, unconventionality of pose, manipulative facility, -fidelity of colouring, boldness of shadow, and the marvellous certainty -of his flesh tones. His technique, in short, was unrivalled, and the -emphasis with which he expressed feature and mood was astounding. - -His illumination was golden, and the animation of his figures -extraordinary. Like Michael Angelo he preferred men to women, as -exhibiting more character and less liable to affectation. He neither -wasted time in making studies for his compositions, nor frittered it -away in elaborate corrections. His brush knew one stroke only--his -impasto was laid on at once. Simply in details of hair, lace, and -brocade did he elaborate. - -The same decade was the most brilliant period of the Dutch School -generally; the greatest painters were all working away on canvas and -panel, making world's records in Art. Every town, and many a country -place, had its studios and schools of painting, but Haarlem was easily -first as the home and headquarters of painters. "Boldness and truth" was -the municipal motto, and this is eloquent in all the work of Franz -Hals. - - [Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE JOLLY MANDOLINIST (DER NAAR) - - (Collection of Baron G. Rothschild, Paris. A copy by Dirk Hals in - Rijks Museum, Amsterdam) - - Painted in 1625. This is a very jolly fellow! It is a portrait of - one of Hals' favourite pupils, Adriaen Brouwer, who was also - renowned for his musical gifts and his love of practical jokes; he - painted pictures too sometimes! His nickname in the studios was - "_Der Naar_"--"Funny Man!" The "Jolly Mandolinist" must have caught - sight of one of his lady-loves at a window, or a painting chum. His - _staccato_ note ends in a genial smile, and he is ready for a joke - or a hand-tossed kiss. This has Hals splendidly fixed, a snapshot - would not have had a more instantaneous effect. The Spanish costume - suggests the celebration of one of the famous Haarlem - masquerades.] - -And Haarlem was the most prosperous of cities. Between 1630-1640 the -Tulip mania was at its height, and Haarlem was the metropolis of the -bulb. It is said that in one year the florists of the city cleared -twelve million golden florins. - -To Haarlem, as to an artists' Mecca, flocked teachers, students, and -connoisseurs from all lands, and among the rest came a notable pilgrim, -Anthonie Van Dyck. - -Mincing along in his courtier-like manner, in search of impressions, he -wished to see for himself the master about whom gossip had spun such -wonderful stories, and to watch him at work. He was at The Hague, the -honoured guest of Frederick of Nassau, Prince of Orange, painting -princely patrons, and it was not more than a Sabbath-day's journey to -Haarlem. - -So one bright morning in June that year, 1630, Van Dyck, unannounced, -knocked at Franz Hals' front door. Vrouw Hals greeted the stranger -courteously--"My husband," she said, "is not at home, maybe he is at the -Life School; will the gentleman step in and rest." - -Jan, who was just twelve years old, was sent to look for his father, and -at last discovered him, not at his studio, but with some boon companions -in the little back room of his favourite tavern hard by. Perhaps among -the "Merry Topers" there were famous Admiral Van Tromp, killed in 1653, -and his jolly comrade, Jan Barentz, the entertaining cobbler--late a -lieutenant in the fleet, whose portrait Hals painted many a time as a -"Jolly Toper," with his great big hands and grinning face, squinting at -the liquor level of his tell-tale glass. - -"There is a smart gentleman, all the way from Antwerp, to see you, dad, -and he wants you to paint his portrait," so ran on the lad. - -Hals bid his boy go home, finished his tankard and his pipe, and -leisurely sauntered along. He was in no good-humour at the interruption, -and gave the stranger a cool welcome. At first he demurred at being -called upon to paint a man he had never seen before, and whose features -and figure he had had no opportunity of studying. - -Van Dyck, without revealing his identity, begged him to proceed, and -offered him a tempting fee. Without more ado Hals snatched up the first -old canvas lying on the floor, and in a couple of hours he had painted, -in a manner which greatly astonished his sitter, a telling likeness. - -Van Dyck laid down the amount he had promised, but asked Hals whether he -might, in return, attempt to paint his portrait. Hals was astounded, and -more so as the visitor progressed, for it was borne in upon him that -such a stylish _virtuoso_ could be none other than his famous rival, the -great Flemish master. "Who the devil are you?" he exclaimed. "Why, you -must be Anthonie Van Dyck!" - -Van Dyck was exigeant that Hals should accompany him to England, where -he had been summoned by the king. No words and no inducement could move -Hals out of Holland--it was his home, it was his world; Dutch of the -Dutch was he, bred in the bone! - -Van Dyck departed much disappointed, but he charmed the Vrouw Lysbeth -and the kiddies by leaving behind for them twenty silver florins. As -for Hals, he went back to his pots and his paints. - -In the Schwerin Gallery is a "Portrait of a Man" with a good deal of -Franz Hals about it, variously attributed to him and to Van Dyck. Maybe -it is the one painted in Haarlem that hot June day in 1630. - -Eight superb portraits by Hals were dated this self-same year: "The -Group of the Beresteyn Family," and "The Gipsy Girl" (La Bohémienne), at -the Louvre; "The Mandoline Player"--_Der Schalksnaar_, in Baron Gustave -Rothschild's Collection in Paris; "Nurse and Child," and "The Jolly -Toper," at the Royal Gallery in Berlin; "Portrait of a Man" ("_ætat suæ_ -36") at Buckingham Palace; Mijnheer Willem Van Heythuysen, at the -Belvedere Gallery in Vienna--the full-length, Velazquez-like standing -portrait; and "Portrait of a Young Girl," of the Beresteyn family at -Haarlem. - -_Der Schalksnaar_--called also "The Fool," "The Buffoon," "The Jester," -and, far more suitably, "The Mandoline Player"--is allowed to be the -finest character-portrait in the world. Velazquez and Rembrandt never -did anything so acutely life-like. - -It is a "snapshot," so to speak, of Adriaen Brouwer, one of Hals' -favourite and most distinguished pupils, whose renown as a painter of -peasant genre was equalled by his fame as an archplayer of practical -jokes and as a brilliant musician and _improvisatore_. Here he is, in -fancy Spanish dress, red and yellow, with a real old Hispano-Moorish -mandoline. His nickname in the studios was "_Der Naar!_" "Funny Fellow!" -His face--clean-shaven, but still something of a stranger to soap and -water--reflects, with amazing truthfulness and vitality, the emotions of -the moment. - -He laid a wager that he would make his _innamorata_ peep out of her -window and wave her hand at him. The _staccato_ notes of the serenade -have not yet quite died away, the strummer's hand has not relaxed its -tension on the strings of the instrument, as the singer throws up a -rapid glance of recognition. - -"Nurse and Child" is as charming as anything in all the works of Franz -Hals. Nothing can be imagined more natural, more simple, more -appealing. At first sight the woman--she may be thirty--appears posed, -but her expression is that of momentary abstraction from the restless -exigencies of nursing. She is goodness and gentleness personified, and -her pinned-up cap lappels tell of busy little fingers close by. - -The baby is to the life. He is a vigorous youngster, the latest little -son of the ancient North Holland family of Ilpenstein, prominent in -Haarlem story. He has grabbed his nurse's brooch whilst he turns to have -a good look at you, and, presto, he will bury his head in her kindly -bosom with a merry laugh. His face is a _tour de force_--that of a rare -critic, as all healthy babies are. I question whether any painter has -painted a child's _coming_ smile as Hals has done here. - -The dress, a splendid piece of gold brocade in colours, must be an -inspiration from Pieter Breughel, "le Velours" (1568-1625), whose -mastery of glossy patterned stuffs is almost inimitable. The lace looks -as if Hals had just cut lengths of rare Mechlin point and pasted them -upon his canvas. Why, we can count every thread and knot! - -The year that gave date to these widely differing, but admirably -agreeing, character-portraits also witnessed the foundation of Franz -Hals' Life School. Very soon after the death of Van Mander, in 1606, the -famous Academy of Painting began to decline in popularity. The -dissolution of partnership between Cornelissen and Goltzius, and their -departure from Haarlem, caused its doors to be closed. - -Whether he wished it or not, a goodly company of artists looked to Franz -Hals as their leader, and so the mantle of Van Mander fell upon the -shoulders of his most distinguished pupil. - -Among those who foregathered in the new Academy were Pieter Soutman -(1580-1657), Pieter Potter, father of Paul (1587-1642), Willem Claesz -Heda (1594-1680), Jan Cornelisz Verspronett (1597-1662), Hendrik -Gerritsz Pot (1600-1656), Pieter Molyn (1600-1661), Pieter Fransz De -Grebber (1610-1665), Antonie Palamedesz Stevaerts (1604-1680), Adriaen -Brouwer (1605-1638), Dirk Van Deelen (1605-1671), Cæsar Van Everdingen -(1606-1679), Pieter Codde (1610-1666), Bartholomeus Van der Helst -(1610-1670), Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1685), Philippe Wouwermans -(1620-1668), Isaac Van Ostade (1621-1649), Pieter Roestraeten -(1627-1698), who married Sara, Franz Hals' eldest daughter; Vincenzius -Laurenszoon Van der Vinne (1629-1702), and Job Berckheijde (1630-1693), -with Hals' five sons and his brother Dirk. - -There is in Haarlem Stadhuis a very interesting painting by the last of -these, which shows Franz Hals' Life School and some of his pupils in the -year 1652. Work is in full swing, and five of the master's sons--the -youngest, Nicolaes, being twenty-four years old--and Dirk Hals with Van -Deelen, Molyn, Berckheijde himself, and his little brother Gerritsz, -seated at a table, are drawing from a nude model. The master is by the -door, chatting with Philippe Wouwermans, who has just popped in to see -how things are getting on. - -It is said that Hals "sweated" his pupils by making them draw and paint -subjects for which he paid them little or nothing, and which he sold at -fair prices to meet his weekly tavern reckonings. Adriaen Brouwer is -named as "living-in" at the Halsian establishment, with an uncomfortable -bed, insufficient food, and scanty clothing! Be these tales what they -may, there is characteristic evidence that Hals and his pupils lived on -good terms. An amusing story is told by the Haarlem historian and -biographer, Jacob Campo Weyerman, in his "Sevens-Beschrijoingen der -Nederlondsche Konst-Schilders," of the goings on at the Life School. - - [Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE MARKET GIRL (LA BOHÉMIENNE) - - (Louvre Gallery, Paris) - - Painted in 1630. They call her "La Bohémienne" in Paris, but why we - do not know. She is _not_ a gipsy girl, but a slut out of Haarlem - Fish-market, wholly bereft of all sense of appearance, and caring - only for passing joke and gibe. The girl was a favourite studio - model also, for studies of a figure and face like hers abound in the - work of Haarlem painters. Thinly painted, in simple colours, this is - a masterpiece of pigment snapshots. Its sauciness is as natural as - may be. No doubt she and Hals exchanged many a bit of racy banter; - perhaps she dared him to paint her just as she was.] - -The master's addiction to strong drink called for energetic action, and -the older pupils were accustomed of an evening to take it in turn to -fetch him home from his cups, undress him, and tuck him comfortably into -bed. - -"Now when Franz, lying in bed, thought he was alone in his room, his -piety came to the surface; for however tipsy he might be he generally -closed his halting prayer with this petition: 'Dear Lord, take me soon -up into Heaven!' Some pupils who heard him repeat this request night -after night decided to test one day whether their master was really in -earnest, and Adriaen Brouwer--that ape of humanity--undertook to carry -out the joke. Brouwer, in company with another pupil called Dirk Van -Deelen, bored four holes in the ceiling, right above Franz' bedstead, -and through these lowered four strong ropes, which they fastened to the -four corners of the bed, and then waited eagerly for their master's -return home. Hals returned towards night in merry mood, and his pupils -helped him to bed according to their wont, took away the light, and then -crept quietly upstairs to set their plan in motion. As soon as Franz -began his usual orison, 'Lord, take me up soon into Heaven,' they drew -him and his bedstead gently up a little, whereupon Hals, half dazed, -fancying that his prayer was being answered literally, altered his tone, -and began to cry out lustily: 'Not so fast, dear Lord! not so fast!'" - -Hardly able to restrain their mirth the mischievous young dogs quietly -let their burden down, slipped off the ropes, and themselves slipped -away, to tell their fellows the joke. "Franz," continues Weyerman, "did -not discover the trick until several years after!" - -The years 1631 and 1632 were lean years in Hals' output, but the year -1633, which gave us "Portrait of a Man" at the National Gallery--a fresh -complexioned, easy going gentleman about thirty to forty years of age, -in an astonishingly voluminous ruff, quite a bygone fashion in -that year--saw a _chef-d'oeuvre de chefs-d'oeuvres_, another -"_Schutters-stuk_," put up in the Stadhuis at Haarlem. - -"The St Adriaen's Doelen," No. 2, consists of fourteen officers, nearly -all of whom are gazing good-humouredly right out at their visitors, and -inviting all and sundry to join in the conviviality. Each face is a -pleasant character-study, for each man has dined well and is content. - -Colonel Jan Claesz Van Loo is seated on the left, holding a stout -walking-stick--probably he has contracted gout since his appearance in -1627! Seven of the officers hold halberds--a decided novelty in -accessories, which adds greatly to the picturesque effect. One wonders -whether anybody had whispered to Hals the news that Velazquez had -painted his "Surrender of Breda" with halberds and lances _galore_! -Anyhow Hals would not be caught napping by an intrusive Spaniard! - -The Group is far and away the most easily arranged of all the -_Schutters-stuken_. The waving foliage and smiling landscape predicate -breeze and sun, for the gathering is _al fresco_ in the gardens of -Roosendaal, the Hampton Court of Haarlem. The officer seated upon the -table is Lieutenant Hendrik Pot--a favourite pupil--a speaking likeness. - -Fashions have changed, they are richer and more decorative with silken -stitching and laced scarves. The colours, greys, greens, browns, and -dull blues are softened by the leafy environment. "_En plein air_" is -the cry of modern Impressionists, but here we have it, where, perhaps, -we should not look for it. This is in truth one of the world's chief -masterpieces, and the efforts its execution called forth told greatly -upon its creator. - -Certainly he went on painting, and probably he went on carousing too; -but silence again settles down upon him, and a meagre list of fifteen -signed and dated portraits completes his work until 1637. - -We find him now not at Haarlem, but at Amsterdam; not drinking, but -painting--painting what Dr. Bürgher, the art critic, asserts is "the -most astounding picture of the Dutch School." Probably Hals frequently -visited the capital of the chief province, there to see what other -artists were doing, and to sample the pleasures of its convivial life. - -His visit in 1657 was of considerable duration, for he was painting "The -Officers of the Civic Guard" under their commander, Colonel Reynier -Reaels. There are sixteen full-length, life-size figures, posed after -the manner of the Haarlem _Schutters-stuken_. They are clad in dark-blue -uniforms, with the exception of the Standard-bearer--a gorgeous -individual in golden brown, with leggings, laced and bowed, his arms -akimbo, bearing himself with such a swagger as only Franz Hals knew how -to paint. - -This splendid portrait group hangs at the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, at -no great distance from Rembrandt Van Rijn's "Night Watch," so we can -take stock of both together. - -It is not a little significant that Amsterdamers, famed for what the -Tuscans used to call "_il Spirito del Campanile_," should have had to go -to Haarlem for their man! Were there not painters on the spot, and what -about Rembrandt, he was not very busy in 1637? No; no one could do this -sort of thing so well as Hals. - -In 1639 he completed his quintet of _Schutters-stuken_ or -_Doelen_--portrait groups in Haarlem Stadhuis; his patrons were once -more "The Officers of St. Joris' Shooting Guild." - -Here we are in the open with the wind swaying the unfurled banners and -rustling the leaves of the trees. The _rendezvous_ is the orchard of the -Hofje Van Oud Alkemude de XII. Apostelen, with its garden-pavilion, in -the tower of which Hals is said to have painted a _Schutters-stuk_; -beyond are the Haarlem woods. - -The Group consists of nineteen Officers, with Colonel Jan Van Loo. The -men are arranged in two somewhat stiff lines--perhaps they all asked -front places and paid well! With his usual modesty Hals has put himself -in the back row, but in much better guise than his next neighbour, a -distinctly _blasé_ individual. They are all well-set-up men, and dressed -in the new fashion, tending rather to effeminacy. - -The atmosphere and illuminations are vibrant, but the colours are -restrained, the shadows are grey, and the animation does not equal that -of the 1633 Group. Perhaps Hals was degenerating with the passing -age--certainly he was ageing. - -However, he finished off his best decade with a remarkable little -snapshot portrait, a fisher-lad of Katwyk. "_De Strandlooper_" he has -called it; it hangs in Antwerp Museum. He saw the boy running up and -down the dunes; he was an odd-looking bit of humanity. - -"Sit down just where you are," said Hals, "fold your arms, and don't -take your eyes off me." A rough drawing was soon knocked off, just to -fix values, and then the master added, "Come along with me now to -Haarlem, and half a Carolus guelder for you." Then he fixed the oddest -of odd smiles, and the "Beach urchin" remains to prove that the old -man, vigorous, had lost very little of his cunning after all. - - * * * * * - -The last twenty-five years of Hals' life were marked by experiences -wholly unlike the circumstances of the preceding decade. - -If between 1630-1640 he approached Velazquez and painted dignified -magnates and others, with a brush dipped in gold and a palette of -luminous colours, in the end of his days he was near Rembrandt with no -less characteristic groups and individuals, and his hues are silvery and -his shadows impressive. - -The _Regenten Stuken_, the "Five Governors of the St. Elizabeth -Almshouse" or _Oudemaanenhuis_, exposed in the Haarlem Stadhuis in 1641, -might, for all the world, be the work of the great Amsterdam master, -just as the latter's "Staalmeester's" of 1661 might be his. - -The Group in question consists of five most serious and reverent city -fathers, seated comfortably at their Board table. Not a bit of worldly -conceit, not a decorative adjunct of any kind, adorns the composition, -but it is a perfect achievement. The sombre black garments and -steeple-crown hats have a lustre of their own, and, standing well out of -the greyish-green wall behind, they throw up wonderfully facial -expression and manual dexterity. The plain linen collars and -well-starched cuffs tone down the ashen-red shadows upon the skin, and -the clustering locks of long black hair, tinged with grey, form halos -around the wrinkles. - - [Illustration: PLATE VIII.--NURSE AND CHILD - - (Royal Museum, Berlin) - - Painted in 1630. This is one of the very best of all Hals' - compositions. The Nurse is a buxom lass of North Holland, and the - Child, the little son of Mijnheer Julius Ilpensteen, a wealthy - German merchant, settled at Haarlem, and engaged in tulip-growing. - The expression of the youngster, just about to explode with laughter - at something droll which has caught his eye, and then shyly to bury - his head in his crooning nurse's bosom, has been caught quite - wonderfully. The dress is rich, and the Mechlin lace collar is so - actual that it might really be a "piece" cut off and pasted on the - canvas! It is said that Hals had been twitted with his fondness for - dirty, unkempt children as models for his snapshots of character, - here he has vindicated his sense of elegance. - - Compare this charming subject with the character-portrait of the - "Strandlooper" at Antwerp, and Hals' grip of children's expressions - is seen to be emphatic and unlimited.] - -Haarlem possessed many charitable institutions to which the general -title "_Hofjes_" was attached. It became the happy custom, well on in -the seventeenth century, for wealthy citizens to build and endow -almshouses, hospitals, and the like--in the first instances as monuments -of individual prominence and ultimately as memorials of family pride. -Founders and their relatives were the earliest governors, and then -administrative powers were merged in trusts and municipal offices, and -foremost citizens formed their Boards. - -Franz Hals' great good-nature and his merry haphazard way of life made -him a favourite everywhere--he was everybody's friend. His appointment -in 1643 as "Vinder" of the Haarlem Lodge of the Artists' Guild -of St. Luke was very popular. The functions of the office exactly -suited the free-and-easy master-painter; they were analogous -to those which attached to the corresponding Italian office of -_provvidetore_--controller, caterer, and perhaps toast-master, all -rolled into one. - -Nobody has testified to Vrouw Lysbeth's satisfaction at this promotion; -it was a real ray of sunshine in the gathering clouds of age and -anxiety. No doubt she still smiled--not as naïvely as in that garden -green in 1630, but hopefully. - -But Hals was already beginning to grow indolent. Was it the natural -change of life, or was it the effect of self-indulgence? Who shall say? -Charity thinks and speaks kindly we know. Anyhow nine long years steal -quietly along, and all the signed and dated work he did was just nine -portraits and not one of them of marked excellence. - -Poverty began to look in at the windows of the house in the -Peeuselaarsteeg, what time silence or indolence settled there, but what -cared the merry old painter, for love opened the door, and kept it upon -the latch--Lysbeth did not chide Franz, and Franz did not vex Lysbeth. - -Twenty years or so before Hals had picked up many a splendid subject for -his portrait-characterisation or portrait-caricature in Haarlem markets, -and many a flighty _markt-deern_, besides the untidy fish-girl of 1630, -had been his model. Then he loved young girls--at seventy his friends -were _viele deerne_ of the _Kraegs_ or common taverns. - -One old lady had for many a long day taken his fancy, not that she was -comely, sober, or fair spoken, quite the reverse, nevertheless her -striking play of features and the wrinkling of her leathery skin had an -occult fascination for Franz. - -They called her "Hille Bobbe," but her name was Aletta or Alle Bol or -Bollij; and she lived in a hovel by the Fish-market. Nobody ever got the -better of old Hille, but she let everybody know what she thought of him -and his! - -At Lille is a "Laughing Hussy," painted by Hals in 1645; at Berlin is -the old lady with her tankard and an owl, done in 1650; and at Dresden -the same _viele deern_ is scolding a yokel, who is smoking over her -stall of unboiled lobsters, 1652 (?). They are all three most simply -painted in black and grey, and just faint traces of ochre and red. The -deep shadows point to a meagre palette and a brush worn down, but the -result is striking and original. Nobody knows what the owl had to do -with the old lady, probably a painters' joke at the model's expense. - -In ten more years Franz Hals signed and dated no more than ten pictures. -Was he idle? Was he ill? Was he dissolute? We cannot say; we have no -data to go upon. The next note we have is an alarm signal, for, in 1652, -one Jan Ykess, a baker, obtained a warrant whereby he sued Hals for two -hundred Carolus guilders on account of comestibles supplied to him and -his wife. A distress was issued, and the forced sale of three thin -mattresses and bolsters, a ricketty armoire, and an old oak-table, with -five oil paintings, barely sufficed to clear the bill. - -Other creditors, and there were not a few, got nothing; apparently -there were no other assets. But two years later Hals gave his butcher of -"The Merry Trio," a painting by Jan Razet, "St. John the Baptist -preaching," by way of compensation. - -This is indeed a sad revelation, and its sadness is intensified by the -apparent want of filial piety on the part of Franz' sons and daughters. -They were all living, and, except Pieter, domiciled in Haarlem. Only -Maria was unmarried. All were in good circumstances. Nicolaes, -"_Vinder_" in 1662, had been a member of the Corporation since 1655. Why -they did nothing to assist their parents in their distress nobody has -recorded. There is no note of family feuds: perhaps Franz' pride refused -natural assistance. - -In 1655, and again in 1660, Hals painted and dated many portraits, as -though he was forced to do something to keep the wolf from the door. -Many of these are remarkable, not only as the work of an old man, but as -exhibitions of new methods. "René Descartes," at the Louvre, and "Tyman -Oosdorp," at Berlin--reminiscent perhaps of "Jan Hornebeeck of Leyden," -at Brussels, painted in 1648--have fixed unhappy faces, all in dull -black and grey, with dark shadows suffusing everything. Surely they are -reflections of the painter's darkening view of life in grumbling, -unmerry mood. - -The clouds, however, appear to have been at least partially dissipated, -for in the latter year we have a smiling face again, and, perhaps, one -of the last which smiled on "Hals of Antwerp!" The _Schlapphut_, "The -Slouch Hat," now at Cassel, is a real _chef-d'oeuvre_. A young man, -seated sideways, with his arm across the back of his chair, looks out of -the grey-green-black background with a saucy air. He is saying, "I -wonder what you think of me!" It takes a little time to focus this -impression, for Hals has dashed on his pigments almost too liberally, -and he has gashed and smeared the mass with his hardest brush. When we -do get the point of view, we feel disposed immediately to snub the young -upstart for his impertinence. - -In spite of these spurts, and others, misfortune fell the way of Franz -and Lysbeth Hals. In the spring of 1662 the old man applied to the -Municipal Council for assistance. His plea was not in vain, for, with -characteristic good-fellowship, a dole was immediately forthcoming--fuel -and aliment--and with them a benefaction of 150 Carolus guilders (circa -£26). - -Old Hals could still, vigorous old fellow that he was, hold his palette -and his brush--and to good use too--nor did he quite lack for patrons. -Upon the Board of the _Oudevrouwenhuis_ (Old Women's Alms House) were -several old chums of his who, in solemn conclave met, agreed unanimously -to commission the aged master to paint two portrait-groups--one of -themselves, and the other of the Lady Governors of the Béguinage for old -and reduced gentlewomen, which Mijnheer Nicolaes Van Beresteyn had -founded in 1611. - -This was a noble act of charity conceived in the best possible spirit, -for any fear of Franz' ability was quite outweighed by the wish to -minister, so as not to offend in any way, his _amour propre_. And Hals -set to work upon the last efforts of his life, and finished and dated -both groups in 1664. He was eighty-four; and thus they are in the -Stadhuis, side by side with his five festive _Schutters-stuken_. - -The _Regentessen van der Oudevrouwenhuis_ (The Lady Governors of the Old -Women's Alms House) are not distinguishable for youth or beauty, and yet -the five old faces are very attractive in their sternness. Probably they -were quite prepared to resent any impropriety on the part of the jovial -old artist. Their pursed-up lips, their peering gaze, and the muscular -contraction of their hands convey this impression. Their garments are as -plain as their persons, and there is nothing decorative in the -composition--everything is subdued black and grey, but the illumination -and animation are splendidly evident although held in check. - -The _Regenten van der Oudemannenhuis_ (The Governors of the Old Men's -Alms House), on the other hand, has much less force, and, compared with -the earlier group of 1641, it is nerveless and moribund. The five -Governors are old, weary, and sad. The colours are greyish, the -brushwork feeble, and expressionless faces match the ashen pallor of -the skin. Their hands, too, have lost their grip, and there is no curl -in their hair. Humour is no longer Hals' painting mixture, the pathos of -"the passing" is upon him; and yet, with an evident expiring effort, the -youngest of the five old men actually displays the gaiety of a scarlet -knee-ribbon--it is the last impression of a parting touch! - -And now the brush falls from the painter's hand; the few colours left -upon his palette are dry; and his enfeebled vigour is tired out. No -doubt the emolument he received for these two most impressive, most -touching portrait-groups was in the nature of a pension to keep him and -his old wife in something like comfort till the end. - -For that end Franz Hals had not long to wait. Perhaps it is as well that -we have no account of his sufferings and his death. Only one more -historical note can be adduced to complete the life's story of "Hals of -Haarlem"--the notice of his burial. On September 1, 1666, all that -remained of him was buried, with some amount of circumstance, in the -Groote Keerke of St. Bavon. His body rests in the choir, with the ashes -of Haarlem's most famous sons, and, if no meretricious sculptured -memorial exists to fix the very spot, the monogram, upon a flat stone -underfoot, "F. H.," reminds the pilgrim to the painter's shrine of all -he was and all he did--simple and unaffected. - - * * * * * - -Poor old Lysbeth survived her husband many years, as poor as poor could -be. In 1675 she made a pathetic appeal for relief, and the miserable -pittance of fourteen _sous_ a week was accorded her. The dear old soul -languished and died, with apparently no child at hand to comfort her. No -record of her last hours tells where she died--probably in some -_Oudevrouwenhuis_ or other, and of her grave no man knoweth. - - - The plates are printed by BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., Derby and London - The text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Franz Hals, by Edgcumbe Staley - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANZ HALS *** - -***** This file should be named 42114-8.txt or 42114-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/1/42114/ - -Produced by sp1nd, Paul Clark and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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