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There are so many contradictions in the life of Frans Hah that it is difficult to understand how iuch a person became, the greatest >f masters in the rendering of facial expression, and especially of the fleeting moments of laughter or merriment,' which are so marveljusly and directly painted in “The Laughing Boy” at the. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. How could an artist whose life ended in twenty years of neglect and poverty, whose first marriage was so unhappy that he was severely reprimanded by his city * magistrates for mistreating his wife, whose early training is so litle known and whore first paintngs seem to have been masterpieces produced during his mid-thirties— how could such an artist have had the will, let alone the ability to paint such subjects as “The Laughing Boy?” ; The date of Frans Hal’s birth has not been determined with certainty, being listed by different authorities- as 1580, 1581 or 1584. He was born, probably in Antwerp while his family was away from Haarlem, which was their native city and to which they returned before 1600. Apparently he studied in Haarlem and was first married in 1610. One painting of 1613 has survived. But in 1616, he painted his earliest known masterpiece, a group portrait of Haarlem’s St. George’s Shooting JjyiU. Such a commission presented aShextremely difficult problem, fot each-member wished his individual portrait to be as important as those of his fellow members. To retain this individuality while giving the picture unity presented an extreme contradiction in painterly aims. That (Hals solved this problem superbly is proved by nine such group portraits which are still to be seen 'in Haarlem.
In spite of these large commissions Hals never prospered. There have been many accusattions of drunkenness against him, but he seems to have been more improvident than sottish. Even after Hals’ death in 1666 his reputation was obscure for some two hundred years, but since that time appreciation of his talents has increased to such a point that today it begins to rival that of Rembrandt, hi; contemporary.
It is also a contradiction that such a man would encourage his sons to enter a field which had treated him so shabbily. But die works of five of his sons, four of them born to his second wife, are known. Frans, the younger, was • portrait and still life painter; Herman serialized in conversation
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