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Karin
I had a good look at the two Hals paintings in the AGO last night. Unfortunately for them, they were set on either side of a Van Dyck portrait, so they didn't look as impressive as they might have beside a lesser light. In any event, one of his portraits is an early work, "Portrait of Isaak Abrahamsz Massa" and it is not so great. The other--a more mature work-- is the portrait of Vincent Laurensz van der Vinne. It is very good. Notably, in neither work could I detect clear signs of glazing or of monochromatic underpainting. Little, if any, of the imprimitura was showing and whatever underpainting was done, was covered by opaque layers. The painting is composed almost exclusively with a series of greyed-greens and greyed-oranges.
In the early work, a fair amount of hatching was evident, using opaque paint, even in the shadows. In the later work, the hatching was there, but to a lesser extent. The hand applying the paint to it was more deft and it had more of an "alla prima" look to it.
Also noteworthy is the fact that on the other side of the early Hals, is a late Rembrandt. It is a portrait of a lady with a lap dog. I don't much care for it. Compared to the van Dyck, it looks crude and not very voluminous. Not one of Rembrandt's better works, in my opinion.
All the best.
Juan
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