The Portraitist: Frans Hals and His World

by Steven Nadler

A biography of the great portraitist Frans Hals that takes the reader into the turbulent world of the Dutch Golden Age. 
 
 
Frans Hals was one of the greatest portrait painters in history, and his style transformed ideas and expectations about what portraiture can do and what a painting should look like.
 
Hals was a member of the great trifecta of Dutch Baroque painters alongside Rembrandt and Vermeer, and he was the portraitist of choice for entrepreneurs, merchants, professionals, theologians, intellectuals, militiamen, and even his fellow artists in the Dutch Golden Age. His works, with their visible brush strokes and bold execution, lacked the fine detail and smooth finish common among his peers, and some dismissed his works as sloppy and unfinished. But for others, they were fresh and exciting, filled with a sense of the sitter’s animated presence captured with energy and immediacy.
 
Steven Nadler gives us the first full-length biography of Hals in many years and offers a view into seventeenth-century Haarlem and this culturally rich era of the Dutch Republic. He tells the story not only of Hals’s life, but also of the artistic, social, political, and religious worlds in which he lived and worked.
 

Genres: Biography, Art, History, Nonfiction, Art History

360 pages, Hardcover

Published October 6, 2022

About the author

Steven Nadler is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin--Madison. His books include Rembrandt's Jews, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Spinoza: A Life, which won the Koret Jewish Book Award; and A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age (Princeton).

Reviews

[David Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is interesting to read biographies of artists for whom extant records are scant. The author is forced to triangulate between an artist's work, indirect sources, church and civic records, and the general societal and political milieu. Following the methodology can be almost as interesting as the story of the artist's life. I am reminded of the biographies of Bach, Vivaldi, and Vermeer.

While the direct historical record of Frans Hals' life is similarly limited, Nader does an admirable job of filling in the blanks. Fortunately, 17th century life in the United Provinces (the forerunner to the Netherlands) was one of relative public order, record keeping, economic expansion, and prosperity. Nader draws heavily on history, politics, religion, and economics to provide insight into Hals' Haarlem, his patrons, his competition, and, in turn, his life.

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because I wanted to learn about Hals and about the history of Haarlem. We know frustratingly little about Frans Hals, it turns out, but Nadler sure tried to paint a portrait of him. The wider information on 1600s Haarlem was interesting, but I wish had been a little bit more fleshed out with stories of other people around, rather than just listing of facts.

[Janet Self · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a bit of a slog to get through, but very interesting, nevertheless. I now have a picture in my mind of 17th Century Harlem, both what life was like for Hals as well as Rembrandt and Vermeer, the big three of the Dutch painters. Understanding the political situation as well as what Nadler was able to learn about Hals through court and church records was illuminating.

[Jaap Meindersma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoe schrijf je een biografie over iemand waarvan nauwelijks iets bekend is, behalve de schilderijen die hij maakte en de stad waarin hij leefde? Nou zo! Prachtig boek over Frans Hals en Haarlem…

[Ilya Markov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an extremely rare combination of being scientifically grounded and very enjoyable to read.