DOI Heft:
Nr. 198 (August 1913)
DOI Artikel:Studio-Talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43453#0173
Stuaio- Talk
“banquet of the officers of the st. George’s shooting company (st. jorisdoelen) of haarlem” (1627)
BY FRANS HALS
true, was not strictly speaking a native of Haarlem,
for he was born at Antwerp; but both his parents
belonged to Haarlem, and except at short intervals
the master himself lived and worked in the town
during the whole of his long life, and the citizens
therefore rightly claim him as one of their own.
The building which now bears the name of the
Frans Hals Museum is not a new one so far as the
main structure is concerned. It was originally an
almshouse or hospital for old men, and was erected
in 1600 by Lieven de Key and Pieter Jacobsz van
Campen. From 1810 till 1906 it was used as an
orphanage. To fit it for its present purpose new
wings have been added in harmony with the style
of the main building, and various internal changes
have been necessitated. The accompanying illus-
trations show the exterior and certain parts of the
interior as now arranged. The home which the
town authorities have provided for the priceless
works of art in their keeping is thus in some respects
an ideal one.
It is generally conceded that among the works
of this great master those which display his genius
140
at its zenith are certain of those large portrait groups
executed by him at various times from 1616 onwards
until within a few years of his death. Of such
groups, numbering in all scarcely more than a
dozen, the Town Museum at Haarlem has for long
years sheltered no fewer than eight, w7hich are now
transferred to the new Museum. Prominent among
them are two bearing the same title, Banquet of the
Officers of the St. George’s Shooting Company (St.
horisdoelen) of Haarlem. The larger and earlier
of the two, painted in 1616 and showing twelve
officers standing or sitting round a table, has been
referred to by a high authority as “a masterpiece
surpassing everything of the kind that had been
done in Holland before.” The other painting, of
which a reproduction is here given, is about three
feet shorter in length than the first (which measures
130 inches in length and 69 inches in height) ; it
was painted eleven years later, and the officers
constituting the group are entirely different. Though
not so brilliant in colour as the larger picture, in
which red is prominent, this smaller group, with its
various notes of rich colour, such as the blue and
orange sashes of the assembled officers and the
purple curtain in the background, is in divers
respects the finer of the two.
“banquet of the officers of the st. George’s shooting company (st. jorisdoelen) of haarlem” (1627)
BY FRANS HALS
true, was not strictly speaking a native of Haarlem,
for he was born at Antwerp; but both his parents
belonged to Haarlem, and except at short intervals
the master himself lived and worked in the town
during the whole of his long life, and the citizens
therefore rightly claim him as one of their own.
The building which now bears the name of the
Frans Hals Museum is not a new one so far as the
main structure is concerned. It was originally an
almshouse or hospital for old men, and was erected
in 1600 by Lieven de Key and Pieter Jacobsz van
Campen. From 1810 till 1906 it was used as an
orphanage. To fit it for its present purpose new
wings have been added in harmony with the style
of the main building, and various internal changes
have been necessitated. The accompanying illus-
trations show the exterior and certain parts of the
interior as now arranged. The home which the
town authorities have provided for the priceless
works of art in their keeping is thus in some respects
an ideal one.
It is generally conceded that among the works
of this great master those which display his genius
140
at its zenith are certain of those large portrait groups
executed by him at various times from 1616 onwards
until within a few years of his death. Of such
groups, numbering in all scarcely more than a
dozen, the Town Museum at Haarlem has for long
years sheltered no fewer than eight, w7hich are now
transferred to the new Museum. Prominent among
them are two bearing the same title, Banquet of the
Officers of the St. George’s Shooting Company (St.
horisdoelen) of Haarlem. The larger and earlier
of the two, painted in 1616 and showing twelve
officers standing or sitting round a table, has been
referred to by a high authority as “a masterpiece
surpassing everything of the kind that had been
done in Holland before.” The other painting, of
which a reproduction is here given, is about three
feet shorter in length than the first (which measures
130 inches in length and 69 inches in height) ; it
was painted eleven years later, and the officers
constituting the group are entirely different. Though
not so brilliant in colour as the larger picture, in
which red is prominent, this smaller group, with its
various notes of rich colour, such as the blue and
orange sashes of the assembled officers and the
purple curtain in the background, is in divers
respects the finer of the two.