Frans Hals: The Male Portrait

Frans Hals: The Male Portrait is the first book to focus on the innovative approach to male portraiture of Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals. It explores his career from the 1610s to 1666, including his masterpiece, The Laughing Cavalier. The book is richly illustrated and demonstrates how Hals achieved this great masterpiece at a relatively early point in his career.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 23 September 2021
Publisher: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd

Frans Hals, a renowned Dutch Golden Age painter, stands as one of the greatest portrait artists in history, sharing the spotlight with Rembrandt as a prominent figure in the seventeenth century Dutch art scene. To coincide with the exhibition of the same name at the Wallace Collections, Frans Hals: The Male Portrait delves into the artist's groundbreaking approach to male portraiture, spanning from the early stages of his career in the 1610s until his passing in 1666. Through his skillful manipulation of pose, expression, and virtuosic painterly technique, Hals transformed the male portrait into a wholly novel and captivating form, capturing the essence and character of his sitters like no one before him.

This book presents the first comprehensive examination of Hals's renowned masterpiece, The Laughing Cavalier, painted in 1624. The vividly dressed young man, confidently positioned with his left arm akimbo in the extreme foreground of the picture, seemingly invading the viewer's space, has enchanted audiences for over a century. Frans Hals: The Male Portrait, extensively illustrated, contextualizes The Laughing Cavalier within the broader scope of Hals's artistic oeuvre and showcases how, at a relatively early stage in his career, Hals was able to create this extraordinary masterpiece.

Weight: 664g
Dimension: 219 x 255 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781781301104