| Not much is known about the life of Frans Hals. He | | | | good time. That might have been one of the reasons |
| was born in Antwerp sometime around 1580-1581 to | | | | why, despite his success as an artist, he was always |
| a Dutch family living in Flanders. His father was a | | | | short of money. |
| draper, and the family fled the city when it was | | | | The paintings produced in the 1630's tend towards |
| conquered by Spain in 1585, moving to Haarlem in | | | | simple compositions and bright colors. These give |
| Holland where Frans Hals would spend the rest of his | | | | way to cooler tones and by the 1640s a dramatic |
| life. | | | | change can be seen in Hals's works. His brushwork |
| Hals studied painting from 1601-1603 under Karel van | | | | was bold and free and the colors became |
| Mander, who had fled Antwerp at the same time as | | | | monochromatic tones of blacks and greys. His most |
| the Hals family, and in 1610, was admitted to the | | | | important work of this period is the 1648 portrait of |
| Haarlem painters' guild. He started working for the | | | | René Descartes. |
| city as an art restorer and in the same year, married | | | | Although Hals was elected chairman of the Haarlem |
| his first wife, Annetje Harmansdr. The couple had | | | | painters' guild in 1644, his manner of painting was |
| two sons, but Annetje died during the birth of their | | | | starting to go out of style and he was losing |
| second son. | | | | customers. With a large family to support, Hals |
| The paintings Hals produced before the age of 30 | | | | changed his style in a bid to remain popular, but to |
| are unknown, but his first important commission was | | | | little effect. He worked as an art dealer, and acted as |
| painted in 1616: a life-sized group portrait known as | | | | art tax expert for the municipality. In 1652 he was |
| The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia | | | | taken to court and declared bankrupt. He had to sell |
| Company. This work led to other, similar commissions | | | | his belongings and was left destitute, relying on a |
| throughout the 1620s and 30s, which are among the | | | | stipend from the Haarlem municipality to survive. |
| artist's finest productions. He was at the height of his | | | | When he was 84 years old, Hals painted two of his |
| artistic popularity during those years. | | | | greatest works, Lady Regents of the Almshouse and |
| Hals was doing well and in 1617 he remarried. His | | | | The Governors of the Almshouse, considered to be |
| second wife, Lysbeth Reyniers, had been hired as | | | | among the greatest portrait works ever painted. |
| nanny for his two children. It is rumored she was | | | | You can find a wide collection of Frans Hals paint by |
| eight months pregnant when they married and the | | | | number patterns at the Segmation web site. These |
| couple went on to have eight children together. In | | | | patterns may be viewed, painted, and printed using |
| fact, Frans Hals was a lively character with the | | | | SegPlay™PC a fun, computerized paint-by-numbers |
| reputation of being a womanizer who liked to have a | | | | program for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. |