The Signature Style of Frans Hals: Painting, Subjectivity, and the Market in Early Modernity (Amsterdam Studies in the Dutch Golden Age)

The painters of the Dutch Golden Age have a reputation for favoring a dark, serious aesthetic and subdued, everyday scenes over the bravado of their Catholic counterparts. But in fact, Dutch paintings of this period often contain witty visual puns and a fierce vibrancy in their choice of color and subjects. No one more exemplifies this lushness and vividness more than Frans Hals. This richly illustrated volume considers Hals’s lively brush strokes and distinctive handling of paint within the context of Dutch Golden Age painting as a whole, and itprovides powerful insight into his influence during his own time and for generations afterward. Christopher D. M. Atkins looks at the world in which Hals lived, mining the Dutch economy, as well as Hals’s relationships with clients, pupils, and assistants, in order to gain a fuller grasp of the evolution of Hals’s instantly recognizable style. A thoughtful study of the commercial and artistic concerns that shaped Hals’s work, this book reflects on ideas of authorship, consumption, and subjectivity in early modern Europe. Combining smart historical analysis and a deep understanding of Dutch consumer culture with a strong sense of Hals as an artist, The Signature Style of Frans Hals offers a wholly new understanding of both the painter and his world. With discussions of two of Hals’s most famous paintings, The Laughing Cavalier and The Gypsy Girl , this book is required reading for scholars of economic history, art historians, and anyone interested in gaining a deeper insight into life and times of this Dutch master. "This book is the first study to consider the manifold functions and meanings of Hal's handling of paint. Atkins explores the uniqueness of Hals's approach to painting, the relationship of his manner to seventeenth-century aesthetics, the economic motivations and advantages of his methods, the operation of the style as a personal and workshop brand, and the apparent modernity of the artist's style. In sum, the book seeks to understand the multiple levels on which Hals's consciously cultivated manner of painting operated for himself, his pupils and assistants, his clients, and succeeding generations of viewers. As a result, the book offers a wholly new understanding of one of the leading artists of the Dutch Golden Age, and one of the most formative painters in the history of art of Western tradition. This book is the first study to consider the manifold functions and meanings of Hal's handling of paint. Atkins explores the uniqueness of Hals's approach to painting, the relationship of his manner to seventeenth-century aesthetics, the economic motivations and advantages of his methods, the operation of the style as a personal and workshop brand, and the apparent modernity of the artist's style. In sum, the book seeks to understand the multiple levels on which Hals's consciously cultivated manner of painting operated for himself, his pupils and assistants, his clients, and succeeding generations of viewers. As a result, the book offers a wholly new understanding of one of the leading artists of the Dutch Golden Age, and one of the most formative painters in the history of art of Western tradition."--Publisher description "This book is the first study to consider the manifold functions and meanings of Hal's handling of paint. Atkins explores the uniqueness of Hals's approach to painting, the relationship of his manner to seventeenth-century aesthetics, the economic motivations and advantages of his methods, the operation of the style as a personal and workshop brand, and the apparent modernity of the artist's style. In sum, the book seeks to understand the multiple levels on which Hals's consciously cultivated manner of painting operated for himself, his pupils and assistants, his clients, and succeeding generations of viewers. As a result, the book offers a wholly new understanding of one of the leading artists of the Dutch Golden Age, and one of the most formative painters in the history of art of Western tradition.This book is the first study to consider the manifold functions and meanings of Hal's handling of paint. Atkins explores the uniqueness of Hals's approach to painting, the relationship of his manner to seventeenth-century aesthetics, the economic motivations and advantages of his methods, the operation of the style as a personal and workshop brand, and the apparent modernity of the artist's style. In sum, the book seeks to understand the multiple levels on which Hals's consciously cultivated manner of painting operated for himself, his pupils and assistants, his clients, and succeeding generations of viewers. As a result, the book offers a wholly new understanding of one of the leading artists of the Dutch Golden Age, and one of the most formative painters in the history of art of Western tradition." --Publisher description This richly illustrated study is the first consider the manifold functions and meanings of Hals's distinctive handling of paint. Atkins explores the uniqueness of Hals's approach to painting and the relationship of his manner to seventeenth-century aesthetics. He also investigates the economic motivations and advantages of his methods, the operation of the style as a personal and workshop brand, and the apparent modernity of the artist's style. The book seeks to understand the multiple levels on which Hals's consciously cultivated manner of painting operated for himself, his pupils and assistants, his clients, and succeeding generations of viewers. As a result, the book offers a wholly new understanding of one of the leading artists of the Dutch Golden Age, and one of the most formative painters in the history of art in the Western tradition. It also provides a much needed interrogation of the interrelationships of subjectivity, style, authorship, methods of artistic and commercial production, economic consumption, and art theory in early modernity. Table Of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. A Liveliness Uniquely His Chapter 2.Virtuosity Chapter 3.Painting For The Market Chapter 4.The Hals Brand Chapter 5.Modernity Notes List Of Illustrations Bibliography Index