Frans Hals

Frans Hals, (1581-1666). Dutch painter of Flemish descent. One of the greatest 17th-century portrait painters, he studied with Van Mander in Haarlem, where he spent most of his life. His early group portraits, particularly The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company (1616) show a lively informal style that is also evident in his single figures. His best-known portrait is probably The Laughing Cavalier (1624). Hals’s later works, including Regents of the St Elizabeth Hospital (1641), are more somber and profound, particularly those painted in his old age when he was destitute.