Frans Hals the Elder (1580/1585 – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group portraiture. He is known for his loose painterly brushwork.

Around 1591, due to the Eighty Years' War, he abandon Antwerp and move to

Haarlem. His training was carried out with the Dutch painter Karen van Mander. Most of his adult life was spent in this city where he was patronized by the bourgeois and wealthy merchants of the time.

In his portraits an atmosphere of spontaneity appears, his characters seem to have been caught with a fleeting expression. Among his first works, "Laughing Cavalier", "The Gipsy Girl", “Regents of the St Elizabeth Hospital of Haarlem” and "The Merry Drinker" stand out.

Although Hals' work was in demand throughout his life, he experienced financial difficulties. In addition to painting, he worked as an art dealer and restorer. His creditors took him to court several times, and to settle his debt with a baker in 1652 he sold his belongings. The inventory of the property seized mentions only three mattresses and bolsters, an armoire, a table and five pictures. Left destitute, the municipality gave him an annuity of 200 forms in 1664.

He died in Haarlem in 1666 and was buried in the city's St. Bavo Church.

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