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The Gypsy Girl by Frans Hals

10/4/2020

3 Comments

 
The Gypsy Girl by Frans Hals in the Louvre Museum in Paris
Where? Second floor, room 846 of the Richelieu wing in the Louvre
When? Between 1626 and 1628
What do you see? A prostitute smiling provocatively. She has half of her breasts exposed. The use of light emphasizes her expression and cleavage. She wears a white linen garment with a salmon-colored bodice on top of it. She has rosy cheeks and looks to her left (our right). It seems that she is seducing a potential client.

By 17th- and 21st-century standards, the woman may not be very pretty. She has a somewhat big nose, not a very smooth skin, and her hair is somewhat unkempt. However, her facial expression is so intriguing that this work leaves a lasting impression on those who view the painting.

​Frans Hals used loose and rough brush strokes for this painting. While Hals is known for his loose brush strokes, in this painting he used them more than in most of his other works. The style used for this work helps to make The Gypsy Girl very memorable.

Backstory: Louis La Caze owned this painting in the 19th century. He was a doctor from Paris and an avid art collector. He gave the name The Gypsy Girl to this painting. This title is not very accurate as he did not recognize that Frans Hals actually painted a prostitute (though she may have been a gypsy).

La Caze left this painting for the Louvre after his death in 1869, together with 568 other paintings. When the Louvre received the painting, the influential newspaper Gazette des Beaux-Arts praised Hals as the best painter ever.

Malle Babbe: This painting is also sometimes referred to as Malle Babbe. However, this name is incorrect as Hals has another painting entitled Malle Babbe. This painting is in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. The confusion can be explained as a popular Dutch song, entitled Malle Babbe, was written in 1970. This song was inspired by the Gypsy Girl. However, the writer of the song, Lennaert Nijgh, mistakenly thought that The Gypsy Girl painting was called Malle Babbe. 
Malle Babbe by Frans Hals in the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin
Malle Babbe by Hals
Who is Hals? Frans Hals the Elder was born in 1582 or 1583 in Antwerp, Belgium, and died in 1666 in Haarlem, The Netherlands. When Hals painted The Gypsy Girl, he was inspired somewhat by the works of Caravaggio. However, Hals differed substantially from Caravaggio as he left out many (distracting) details in his paintings and focused on the composition and the expression of his subjects. This allowed Hals to give his subjects a personality.

While Hals was a popular local painter during his life, his works were largely forgotten after his death. The Impressionist painters rediscovered his work in the 1860s. Artists like Manet and Monet were inspired by the lack of detail, beautiful composition, and the loose brush strokes of Hals. The work of Hals has only gained in popularity since.

​Some beautiful works of Hals include his series on the four evangelists, of which Saint John the Evangelist is in the Getty Museum, and the Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Saint John the Evangelist by Frans Hals in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles
Saint John the Evangelist by Hals
Portrait of Tieleman Roostermans by Frans Hals in the Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman by Hals
Fun fact: Radiographic analysis of this painting revealed that Frans Hals initially wanted to paint a less provocative version of this woman. Her breasts were smaller and less exposed. However, Hals decided to make the painting more provocative. This painting shows more cleavage than any other painting by Hals. The open mouth of the woman is also a telltale sign. Decent women from the 17th century would never be depicted with a smile or open mouth in a portrait as that was considered indecent.
​Interested in a copy for yourself? Poster.

Written by Eelco Kappe

References:
  • Jowell, Frances S. (1974), “Thoré-Bürger and the Revival of Frans Hals,” The Art Bulletin, 56(1), 101-117.
  • Kelly, Gerald (1960), “Four Representational Portrait Painters,” Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 108(5052), 865-883.
  • Zug, George B. (1908), “Dutch Art and Artists: Frans Hals and the Portrait,” The Chautauquan, 52(1), 65-83.
3 Comments
Marybeth Bundy
12/5/2020 10:17:46 pm

I beg to differ the woman is very pretty and there is no reason she couldn’t have been a Gypsy. I ran across the picture today in a very old book from the museum and to my surprise I was looking at a painting that was an exact picture of myself in my teens except for the cleavage showing. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder because I have always been told how beautiful I am from people I don’t even know and was picked out of hundreds of girls to be signed for a modeling contract. My ancestors came from France to America so this woman could very well be one of my ancestors.

Reply
Eelco Kappe
12/6/2020 03:00:48 pm

Thanks for sharing this. I agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The main point I tried to make was that she was not painted with the same precision and fine clothes as some of the other (upper class) female sitters Hals portrayed.

And you are right, she could still have been a gypsy, but it is unknown what her identity is.

Finally, the girl must have lived in Haarlem, The Netherlands, which is where Hals painted all his works.

Reply
Tshirtideal link
8/27/2022 03:17:14 am

You are sharing a wonderful blog with us. I like this blog and found very helpful. Thanks a lot for sharing.

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