Copy after Frans Hals

[Karin Wells]

This is a copy of a painting of Isabella Coymans after Frans Hals (and with my apologies to him). When I was painting it, I was copying from a very poor reproduction in a book and had to "fake" the hand (or whatever) on the right, because I couldn't see it in the picture. I also couldn't see details in the background so I made that up too.

Frans Hals (1586-1666)was a Dutch portrait painter who I think was second only to Rembrandt. His ability to capture a fleeting expression imparts immediacy to his sitters. His vigorous brushwork and painterly technique is what I strive for. I learned a lot from painting this...

[Joseph Brzycki]

Karin,
Do you mind if I ask what were your steps in creating this painting. What and how many layers did you use? Did you use glazing? How did you decide to go about recreating the work? Did you first research upon how others thought this artist created paintings? These questions pertain to your other copies too...

[Karin Wells]

I did not reasearch how the original was painted...and I have no idea how to go about that. Besides "more has been written on this subject than is known"...if you get my drift

I trusted my eyes and common sense was my guide. Because of the way it looked to me, I asume that the face and hands were underpainted. I did this with raw umber plus white in order to get a likeness and determine light and shadow. Then I glazed and scumbled over that to make skin tones and began to build light into these wet glazes.

I blew up my reference material (via Xerox machine) and traced a copy of my drawing from that onto the canvas. For the most part, the rest of the painting was painted a la prima. Then I used many glazes over that to make the colors as dark and as rich as possible (since you can't get a la prima painting to look that way without help).

I used a lot of layers, partly to get that "look" and partly because I messed up and had to use a layer to "correct" the one beneath. I made at least a hundred layers, but I am sure that Hals did a lot less....

I have been fortunate to have seen some Frans Hals paintings in museums "up close and personal". I am convinced that he worked in the method described above....underpainting face and hands. I think that, by the telltale signs I've seen in his work, that underpainting, for him, was the foundation for his virtuoso performance with a brush - even though it sometimes appears like a la prima.

Basically, I just did whatever it took to make my copy look as much like the original as possible.
Hope this helps.

[Juan Martinez]

Karin

Your copy looks fantastic. I think you have indeed hit upon the basic techniques employed by Hals (and many others). Although glazing was probably used less by some and more by others. Essentially, I believe it is a derivative of the Flemish/Venetian methods as exemplified by such luminaries as Titian and Van Dyck, and begun by such as Van Eyck. It also has a healthy dose of the Tenebrist methods used by Caravaggio, the Gentileschis, Ribera, Velazquez, and Rembrandt. Brava!

Here in Toronto, we have a wonderful Frans Hals portrait at the Art Gallery of Ontario that is very study-able. I think I'll go look at it today.

Juan

[Karin Wells]

Which Hals is it?

[Juan Martinez]

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

[Leopoldo Benavidez]

Nice job on the repro Karin! I love Frans Hals, even more so than the almighty Rembrandt, who ranks in there somewhere. Caravaggio is up there, if not first. Everytime I look at Hals in a museum, I am paused in total admiration of his work and the freedom of hand in his paintings. Sureness of brush strokes (visible), painterly, no blending, almost effortless. I love paintings that show this kind of skill. Hard to find today with everybody trying to emmulate a Bouguereau, with excessive blending, glazes, underpaintings, verdaccios, etc., that makes it very difficult to distinguish their individaul signatures from the other blenders. Hals is certainly a goal for many of us, I am sure.......L

[Leopoldo Benavidez]

Frans Hals