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Lot 89 PROPERTY OF THE TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART, SOLD TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITIONS FUND
Studio of Frans Hals (Haarlem 1581/5-1666)
A young man playing a flute
Closed4 June 2014
Price Realised
USD 30,000
More Information
Specialist note
The energetic handling and musical subject of A young man playing a flute captures the dynamism associated with the mature works of the preeminent 17th-century Dutch master, Frans Hals. The leading portraitist of his day in Haarlem, Hals produced animated depictions of young musicians, such as Singing boy with a flute from around 1620-1623 (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, inv. 801A). Pictures of single musicians were popular in the Netherlands at this time, having been popularized by artists in Utrecht such as Hendrick ter Brugghen, whose Flute Player of 1621 (Kassel, Staatliche Gemäldegalerie, inv. 179) was a key precedent for Hals (see S. Slive, Frans Hals, exh. cat., London, pp. 172-175). Hals made such imagery his own, however, employing his distinctive bold, deliberate brushstrokes. The artist of the present work clearly admired this technique, using visible white strokes of paint on the musician's nose, cheek and hands to create the brash highlights for which Hals is known.
For contemporary viewers, A young man playing a flute may have embodied the sense of hearing. Several of Hals' pictures, such as his Singing Girl and Boy playing a violin now in a private collection (see Slive, op. cit., pp. 202-203), have been linked to the themes of sight and hearing. These works, like the present picture, are in a lozenge format.
Pieter Bisbeoer has stated that the present painting likely originated in the workshop of Frans Hals. He dates the painting to around 1645, based on comparison to the portrait of Joseph Coymans in the Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford (dated 1644; inv. 1958.176) and the portrait of Willem Coymans in The National Gallery of Art, Washington (dated 1645; inv. 1937.1.69). He sees the touches in the hands, cuffs, hair, and feathers on his hat of the present work as evidence that this painting is the work of an artist trained by Hals, such as his son Frans Hals II or a pupil such as Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (b. 1628) (P. Biesboer, private communication 10 November 2013).
We are grateful to Pieter Biesboer for his assistance in cataloging this lot.
For contemporary viewers, A young man playing a flute may have embodied the sense of hearing. Several of Hals' pictures, such as his Singing Girl and Boy playing a violin now in a private collection (see Slive, op. cit., pp. 202-203), have been linked to the themes of sight and hearing. These works, like the present picture, are in a lozenge format.
Pieter Bisbeoer has stated that the present painting likely originated in the workshop of Frans Hals. He dates the painting to around 1645, based on comparison to the portrait of Joseph Coymans in the Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford (dated 1644; inv. 1958.176) and the portrait of Willem Coymans in The National Gallery of Art, Washington (dated 1645; inv. 1937.1.69). He sees the touches in the hands, cuffs, hair, and feathers on his hat of the present work as evidence that this painting is the work of an artist trained by Hals, such as his son Frans Hals II or a pupil such as Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (b. 1628) (P. Biesboer, private communication 10 November 2013).
We are grateful to Pieter Biesboer for his assistance in cataloging this lot.