Frans Hals had two sons when his wife Annetje, whom he married in 1613, died two years later in 1615. From his second marriage to Lysbeth Repniers in 1617, Frans Hals had 8 children, five of whom became painters like his father, but none of them became famous.
Frans Hals is one of the most important portrait painters of the 17th century. He became known for his interior paintings, still lives, and portraits.
Frans Hals was born in 1582 in Antwerp, Belgium, as the son of Franchois Fransz Hals van Mechelen and Adriaentje van Geertenryck. His father, Francois Hals, is a weaver. Sometime after his birth, Hals went to Haarlem with his family; His brother Dirk Hals was born here in 1589. Later, he became a famous painter like Frans. Except for a brief visit to Antwerp in 1616, Frans Hals lived his entire life in Haarlem.
Frans Hals studied under the painter Karel van Mander in his youth. In 1610, he was enrolled in the Society of Painters "Gilda di Saint Luca" in Haarlem. The following year, he painted his first important work, "Portrait of Jacobus Zaffius".
Frans Hals the Elder (1582 – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of tronies, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group portraiture. He is known for his loose, painterly brushwork.
Frans Hals, together with Rembrandt, became the representative of the most important portrait painters, made single or group portraits, was influenced by the Mannerism movement in his early works, but later turned towards a contemporary understanding of painting under the influence of Peter Paul Rubens.
Frans Hals was influenced by painters such as Peter Paul Rubens and Caravaggio in his paintings. In 1611, he painted a portrait of the theologian Jacob Zaffius, now in the Haarlem Museum.
Frans Hals painted many portraits of soldiers and produced successful works since 1616.
He painted the painting "St George Civic Guard in Haarlem" in 1616 with a loose brush technique unlike anything else in Dutch art of the time.
He painted six important group portraits between 1616 and 1635. He went to Amsterdam in 1633 for the portrait titled "Captain Reynier Raeal's Officers".
His most successful works are the large-scale group portraits in the Frans Hals Museum. He brought together the people in these portraits with an extremely interesting and harmonious integrity, using free brush strokes that had never been seen before at that time.
The painter's imagination and liveliness in his style are clearly seen in his painting Gypsy, which is considered the masterpiece of his period. This painting is in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
His works "Singers" and "Joyful Drunkard", inspired by daily life, were created by the brush of a virtuoso who reflects the qualities of a color and pattern master at the same time.
Frans Hals had two sons when his wife Annetje, whom he married in 1613, died two years later in 1615. From his second marriage to Lysbeth Repniers in 1617, Frans Hals had 8 children, five of whom became painters like his father, but none of them became famous.
After the deaths of Peter Paul Rubens in 1640 and Anthony van Dyck in 1641, he became the most important portrait painter of the Netherlands. It is known that he has 222 works.
Frans Hals, who previously lived a comfortable life in the Netherlands, was led to misery by his disorder, his addiction to alcohol, and some of his simple friends. He no longer received as many portrait orders as before. Everyone was now slowly turning away from him. Meanwhile, his creditors were also pressuring him. In 1654, he had to pawn his belongings and paintings many times. In 1662, he asked for help from the Haarlem City Council. After much debate, he was promised 150 florins a year. Later, this amount was increased to 200 florins, and in the meantime, he began to be given three tons of coal for the winter.
In 1664, he painted his last important work, the painting "Administrators of the Old People's Home".
Frans Hals died in Haarlem, Netherlands, on August 26, 1666, at the age of 84.
The works that made Frans Hals famous outside the Netherlands were his one-person portraits such as the Laughing Knight.