Patrick Bade
Frans Hals
Summary
An in-depth look at the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals (1582–1666), focusing on the details and characteristics of his style, his use of specific poses and gestures, his brushwork techniques, and the interactions and symbolism within his paintings.
Patrick Bade
Patrick Bade is a historian, writer, and broadcaster. He studied at UCL and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was a senior lecturer at Christie’s Education for many years and has worked for the Art Fund, Royal Opera House, National Gallery, and V&A. He has published on 19th- and early 20th-century paintings and historical vocal recordings. His latest book is Music Wars: 1937–1945.
He doesn’t always but I suppose Dutch people do have rosy cheeks. And of course it’s something that you would’ve been, if you think of the poetry of the people of the period, of Shakespeare or 17th century poetry, it was thought to be attractive to have rosy cheeks so it’s something he would certainly want to emphasise.
Renoir used to say “Black is the queen of colours.” And yes, black clothing was very much in fashion at the time and was very expensive. Black dyes which tended to rot the clothing as well, were certainly for the wealthiest people. It’s quite a challenge to paint people wearing black and Frans Hals is the great master of really making black effective and making it sing.
It’s a vanitas and the 17th century, you’ve got a short life expectancy, you could die any minute from the plague, from all sorts of illnesses, from women in pregnancy and so on. People were very, very aware of death and that death could come at any time so the skull is a memento mori, it’s a reminder of death.