Frans Hals | Baroque Era painter

Frans Hals the Elder (1582-1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, normally of portraits, who lived and worked in Haarlem.

He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and he helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art.

Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group portraiture.

Hals' reputation waned after his death and for two centuries he was held in such poor esteem that some of his paintings, which are now among the proudest possessions of public galleries, were sold at auction for a few pounds or even shillings.

The portrait of Johannes Acronius realized five shillings at the Enschede sale in 1786.

The portrait of the man with the sword at the Liechtenstein gallery sold in 1800 for 4, 5s.

Starting at the middle of the 1860s his prestige rose again thanks to the efforts of critic Théophile Thoré-Bürger.

With his rehabilitation in public esteem came the enormous rise in value, and, at the Secretan sale in 1889, the portrait of Pieter van den Broecke was bid up to 4,420 francs, while in 1908 the National Gallery paid 25,000 pounds for the large family group from the collection of Lord Talbot de Malahide.

Hals' work remains popular today, particularly with young painters who can find many lessons about practical technique from his unconcealed brushstrokes.

Hals' works have found their way to countless cities all over the world and into museum collections.

From the late 19th century, they were collected everywhere - from Antwerp to Toronto, and from London to New York.

Many of his paintings were then sold to American collectors.

A primary collection of his work is displayed in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem.

The Hals crater on Mercury is named in his honor.

Hals was pictured on the Netherlands' 10-guilder banknote of 1968.