Frans Hals

Frans Hals was born in Antwerp, but his family fled to Haarlem when he was a child, and he lived there for the rest of his life. He studied under Karel van Mander and became the city's leading portraitist, painting civic guards, regents and ordinary citizens. His loose, rapid brushwork catches laughs, glances and shifting poses with a freedom no contemporary matched. Neglected after his death, he was rediscovered in the 19th century by painters including Manet.