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拍品专文
The sitter in this arresting bust-length portrait turns slightly to his right to candidly engage the viewer with an expression of genial warmth. He wears a black jacket of fine wool, embellished with a delicate floral pattern and complemented with black silk sleeves adorned with concentric ribbon appliqués. A sumptuous, two-tiered linen ruff sewn into scrolls completes the ensemble, focusing the viewer’s attention on the man’s reddish-blond beard and his jovial face, which are rendered with Hals’s characteristically animated, bravura brushwork.
Following its emergence on the Dutch art market in the late 1920s, this portrait was first published by Wilhelm Valentiner in 1935 as an autograph work by Frans Hals (loc. cit.). Gerrit David Gratama, who served as director of the Frans Hals Museum from 1912 to 1946, quickly endorsed Valentiner’s attribution, borrowing the painting for the landmark 1937 Frans Hals exhibition in Haarlem and later including it in his 1943 monograph (loc. cit.). Curiously, Seymour Slive omitted the work from both of his catalogues raisonnés (1970–74; 2014). As Pieter Biesboer has recently pointed out in an unpublished report, Slive’s personal notes on Hals—which were acquired from his family after his death by the Frans Hals Museum and recently were reviewed by Norbert Middelkoop—reveal that the historian examined the painting firsthand in 1999, when it sold at auction as Judith Leyster. This attribution reflected an alternative theory proposed by Frima Fox Hofrichter, who noted parallels with Leyster’s small-scale, signed and dated 1635 Portrait of a woman in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem. While Slive documents in his papers that Valentiner confirmed the portrait as an authentic work by Hals in a 1948 letter to Newhouse Galleries, Slive himself does not make any conclusive statements about his personal view about this painting's attribution. Claus Grimm, on the other hand, has consistently upheld the painting as an autograph work by Hals, including it both in his 1972 monograph on the artist and in his most recent catalogue raisonné (2023–24, loc. cit.). Norbert Middelkoop, former curator at the Frans Hals Museum, inspected the work in 2024 and likewise considers it to be by Hals.
As Biesboer has observed, the present portrait displays all the hallmarks of Hals’s mature style: fluid, confident brushwork and a vivacity of expression that animates the sitter with palpable immediacy. He notes that the handling of paint aligns closely with Hals’s portraits of the early 1630s, particularly the likeness of Burgomaster Nicolaes van der Meer (1631, Frans Hals Museum; fig. 1), who similarly appears in slightly old-fashioned attire. Biesboer also points to the comparably vivacious passages in Hals’s Portrait of a man holding his hand on his heart of 1632 (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux; fig. 2) and the 1633 Portrait of a man in his thirties (National Gallery, London), where the treatment of facial features and hair is similar to that in the present work.
Biesboer situates the portrait between 1630 and 1633, whereas Grimm proposes a slightly earlier date of circa 1625–26, citing its 'psychological presence and lively eye movement’ as well as Hals’s 'confident study of moving, and appealing features’ (C. Grimm, 2025, loc. cit.). The painting exemplifies Hals’s singular ability to fuse technical brilliance with psychological insight. As Biesboer concludes: 'The sitter exudes a convivial feeling of kind friendliness—a benevolent mien—which no other artist than Frans Hals himself was capable of capturing in his singular portraits—of which this amiable specimen is a fine example’.
We are grateful to Norbert Middelkoop for sharing his research from the Slive archives and for endorsing the attribution to Hals on the basis of firsthand inspection of the painting (written communication, 13 December 2025).
Following its emergence on the Dutch art market in the late 1920s, this portrait was first published by Wilhelm Valentiner in 1935 as an autograph work by Frans Hals (loc. cit.). Gerrit David Gratama, who served as director of the Frans Hals Museum from 1912 to 1946, quickly endorsed Valentiner’s attribution, borrowing the painting for the landmark 1937 Frans Hals exhibition in Haarlem and later including it in his 1943 monograph (loc. cit.). Curiously, Seymour Slive omitted the work from both of his catalogues raisonnés (1970–74; 2014). As Pieter Biesboer has recently pointed out in an unpublished report, Slive’s personal notes on Hals—which were acquired from his family after his death by the Frans Hals Museum and recently were reviewed by Norbert Middelkoop—reveal that the historian examined the painting firsthand in 1999, when it sold at auction as Judith Leyster. This attribution reflected an alternative theory proposed by Frima Fox Hofrichter, who noted parallels with Leyster’s small-scale, signed and dated 1635 Portrait of a woman in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem. While Slive documents in his papers that Valentiner confirmed the portrait as an authentic work by Hals in a 1948 letter to Newhouse Galleries, Slive himself does not make any conclusive statements about his personal view about this painting's attribution. Claus Grimm, on the other hand, has consistently upheld the painting as an autograph work by Hals, including it both in his 1972 monograph on the artist and in his most recent catalogue raisonné (2023–24, loc. cit.). Norbert Middelkoop, former curator at the Frans Hals Museum, inspected the work in 2024 and likewise considers it to be by Hals.
As Biesboer has observed, the present portrait displays all the hallmarks of Hals’s mature style: fluid, confident brushwork and a vivacity of expression that animates the sitter with palpable immediacy. He notes that the handling of paint aligns closely with Hals’s portraits of the early 1630s, particularly the likeness of Burgomaster Nicolaes van der Meer (1631, Frans Hals Museum; fig. 1), who similarly appears in slightly old-fashioned attire. Biesboer also points to the comparably vivacious passages in Hals’s Portrait of a man holding his hand on his heart of 1632 (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux; fig. 2) and the 1633 Portrait of a man in his thirties (National Gallery, London), where the treatment of facial features and hair is similar to that in the present work.
Biesboer situates the portrait between 1630 and 1633, whereas Grimm proposes a slightly earlier date of circa 1625–26, citing its 'psychological presence and lively eye movement’ as well as Hals’s 'confident study of moving, and appealing features’ (C. Grimm, 2025, loc. cit.). The painting exemplifies Hals’s singular ability to fuse technical brilliance with psychological insight. As Biesboer concludes: 'The sitter exudes a convivial feeling of kind friendliness—a benevolent mien—which no other artist than Frans Hals himself was capable of capturing in his singular portraits—of which this amiable specimen is a fine example’.
We are grateful to Norbert Middelkoop for sharing his research from the Slive archives and for endorsing the attribution to Hals on the basis of firsthand inspection of the painting (written communication, 13 December 2025).