Shown from the waist up, a smiling, light-skinned young man wears a voluminous, dark hat and a brown suit in this vertical portrait painting. He sits with his body angled to our left so his right elbow, farther from us, hooks over the back of his wooden chair. He turns his face so his chin is pulled slightly back to look at us over his left shoulder with dark eyes under dark brows. His cheeks are flushed and his light brown mustache frames his pink lips, parted in a smile. His straight brown hair falls to his ears under a wide-brimmed hat as wide as his shoulders. The brim is pushed up and is broad enough that it covers the crown of the hat. A flat, white, lace-edged collar is tied with a red ribbon at his throat. Wide lace cuffs extend back along his forearms over his pecan-brown jacket, which is lined with a row of shiny buttons down the front. His left hand, closer to us, seems to rest on his lap just out of sight, so that elbow juts toward us. His other hand wraps in a fist around the finial of the chair back. He sits beyond an oval opening painted to resemble a stone frame within the rectangular panel. The face of the oval frame and the background behind the man are shades of peanut and fawn brown. The painting is created with fluid and loose brushstrokes, especially in the clothing.
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Shown from the waist up, a smiling, light-skinned young man wears a voluminous, dark hat and a brown suit in this vertical portrait painting. He sits with his body angled to our left so his right elbow, farther from us, hooks over the back of his wooden chair. He turns his face so his chin is pulled slightly back to look at us over his left shoulder with dark eyes under dark brows. His cheeks are flushed and his light brown mustache frames his pink lips, parted in a smile. His straight brown hair falls to his ears under a wide-brimmed hat as wide as his shoulders. The brim is pushed up and is broad enough that it covers the crown of the hat. A flat, white, lace-edged collar is tied with a red ribbon at his throat. Wide lace cuffs extend back along his forearms over his pecan-brown jacket, which is lined with a row of shiny buttons down the front. His left hand, closer to us, seems to rest on his lap just out of sight, so that elbow juts toward us. His other hand wraps in a fist around the finial of the chair back. He sits beyond an oval opening painted to resemble a stone frame within the rectangular panel. The face of the oval frame and the background behind the man are shades of peanut and fawn brown. The painting is created with fluid and loose brushstrokes, especially in the clothing.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

A Young Man in a Large Hat

Frans Hals

Date
1626/1629
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
overall: 29.3 x 23.2 cm (11 9/16 x 9 1/8 in.) framed: 46.7 x 40.6 x 5.7 cm (18 3/8 x 16 x 2 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
1940.1.12
Credit line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Time span
1601 to 1650
Department
CNE-B

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • Baroque
  • Dutch
  • male
  • portrait
  • Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century (NGA Online Editions)
Provenance

C.J.G. Bredius, Woerden, by 1918.[1] (M. Knoedler & Co., New York and Paris); sold 30 January 1929 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington; deeded 28 June 1937 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1940 to NGA. [1] According to Hans Schneider, "Ein neues Bild von Frans Fals," _Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt_ 30 (1918-1919), 368, Bredius acquired this sketch for 60 florins as part of an inheritance. The painting was at that time attributed to Jan Miense Molenaer. The attribution to Hals was made by Abraham Bredius, who persuaded his relative to lend the painting for a while to the Mauritshuis. Later references to earlier owners Van der Hoop and Slochteren (see Seymour Slive, _Frans Hals_, 3 vols., London and New York, 1970-1974, 3: 41-42, no. 66) cannot be confirmed.

NGA object ID 571. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.