Frans Hals is one of the most important portrait painters of all time. Like Rembrandt, the famous Dutch Baroque master's striking portraits of the bourgeoisie and social outsiders are distinguished by their extraordinary vividness and accurate depiction. His sketch-like paintings, executed with bold brushstrokes, had a decisive influence on modernist painting. This comprehensive publication coincides with the first major survey exhibition of Hals' oeuvre in more than thirty years.

FRANS HALS (1582/84-1666) was born in Antwerp, the son of a cloth merchant. In 1610 he was accepted into the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. Hals created hundreds of genre paintings, individual, and group portraits and enjoyed great public prestige. Despite his fame during his lifetime, it was not until the nineteenth century that he was enthusiastically rediscovered by the Impressionists and Realists.

Cover
Titlepage
Contents
Lenders
Foreword and Acknowledgments - Dagmar Hirschfelder
Dedication
Introduction Frans Hals in Berlin - Katja Kleinert
Frans Hals, the Innovator
Social Elites
Collaborating, On Demand or In Conflict
On the Margins of Society
Malle Babbe
Frans Hals's "volck" - Pupils and Assistants
Frans Hals, Forerunner of Modernism
Bibliography
Photographic Credits
Colophon