Frans Hals 1582 - 1666,

Frans Hals was born in Antwerp in 1582, the son of Franchoys Hals, a cloth-worker from Mechelen, and Adriaentgen van Geertenrijck of Antwerp.

The family moved to Haarlem in 1585, when protestant Antwerp fell to invading Spanish forces. Franchoys, Hals father declared himself a catholic in 1585, this was considered a tactical move because The Spanish had re-established Catholicism in Antwerp and the protestants were given four years to settle their affairs and leave.

Like his contemporaries, Franchoys moved north were there was a reformed church and partly for financial reasons too. Following the Spanish victory, the Dutch crippled trade with Antwerp by blocking the entrance of river Scheldt. In the wake of the invasion, over 600 clothe workers and their family including Hals among them migrated to Haarlem which by then had a large textile industry.

Not much was known of Hals early years in Haarlem, the first documented reference on him occurred in 1610, when he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. It was said to be the same year he married his wife Annetje Harmansdr, who bore him two children.

His marriage did not last long, for his wife died in 1615. It was said she got a paupers burial which was a good indication of financial difficulties which were to plague Hals for most of his life.
Hals first painting was dated around 1610 which time he must have been 30years old. Harl reached his artistic maturity rather late, it was not until 1616 after the death of his wife he received his first major commission for a group of portrait of the Banquet of the officers of the saint George civic guard company., which was famous for their extensive banquets. In 1621 a law was passed for the banquets to be held for not more than four days.

Hals was a member of the St. George militia, which membership was strictly restricted to the ruling class or the affluent in the society. His experience with the militia offer him a particular sympathy with their ideals, and enabled him to capture their hospitality and comradeship with unusual perceptiveness and skill.

Hals got married again in 1617; Lysbeth Reyniers was a peasant woman with a quarrelsome temper ad was known to engage with brawls. She gave birth to eight children three of whom became painters.
Although, he was undoubtly successful as a portraitist, but his expanding family helped to
Push him further into financial difficulties. Hals was constantly in debt. He undertook occasional picture dealing and restoration coupled with his painting just to make ends meet. He was summoned to court sometime in 1616 for failing to pay maintenance to the guardian of his children from his first marriage, y this time he way away to Antwerp and his mother answered the charge.
The suing didn’t stop there, in the 1630s he was sued several times by his landlord, shoemaker and a local baker seized his property in 1654 for an unpaid bill. The goods he had to surrender was three beds, Pillows, some linen, and oak cupboard a table, and five paintings.

There is some evidence that suggest that Hals difficulties were partly caused by his rebellious and independent spirit. In 1636, when he was in a serious financial trouble he refused to complete a lucrative commission for the portrait of an Amsterdam militia company, called Meagre Company, because he was unwilling to make a rather short journey to Haarlem When the guards refused to come to him, Hals stopped working on the painting and another painter had to be called to complete it.
More trouble followed in 1608 when his brother Joost was fined in Haarlem for insulting the city’s guard and from throwing rock, which injured a passer-by.

In 1640, his second wife gave birth to an illegitimate child and was sent away to a workhouse to improve on her lax morals. Hals himself was said to be an enthusiastic drinker. His biographer Arnold Houbraken wrote “Hals was filled to the gills every evening” and was also said to be a wife-beater.

The 1630 were Hals most successful years; he was in constant demand for a single portrait and family groups. His patrons include men from the highest ranks of the society, the city regents, the civic guards, town councillors, merchants and scholars. Around 1649, he was to paint the famous French philosopher Rene Descartes. He was also running a successful studio. His student includes some of the most distinguished name in Dutch painting, such as his own brother Dirck, Adriaen Brouwer, Judith Leyster was said to have been his pupil, she later sued Frans Hals for accepting a defected pupil.

In 1661, the Guild of St. Luke exempted him from payment of his dues, and in 1662 he petitioned the counsellors for assistance. The following year he was granted an annual subsidy of 200 guilders, and in 1664.Frans Hals died two years later, on 20th. August 1666, over 80 years of age. He was buried in St. Bavois Church in Haarlem.
displayed were some of his works including "the Laughing Cavalier" which was ranked high after Mona Lisa.