Portrait of a Man

Portrait of a Man, by Hals, is striking for its compositional simplicity and tonal unity—both aspects indicative of the artist's stylistic progression during the 1630s. The figure seems to burst out of the lower edge of the canvas, and his strong physical presence is created by his spiraling posture. Gloves held in the hand, as opposed to being worn, are regarded as a gesture of friendship, which in this case is being offered to the viewer. It is evident that Hals painted very quickly, impulsively, and fluently, varying the texture of the raised paint surface so that the treatment of the clothes and fabric is in marked contrast with the rather thinly-painted facial featuresm and he doesn’t use much color accent. Hals succeeds in making the impermanent seem permanent and the mobile immobile, creating the equivalent of a cinematic freeze-frame. It’s no wonder that Hals was so admired in France during the 19th century by artists such as Edouard Manet and Vincent van Gogh.