RKD Study Frans Hals and his workshop available online
The latest RKD Study, written by Prof. Dr. Claus Grimm, comprises a monograph on the life, work and reception of Frans Hals, and a comprehensive catalogue raisonné of the artist’s oeuvre. After the three monographic chapters have been published in November 2023, now also the complete catalogue raisonné has been made available online at rkdstudies.nl.
2. Frans Hals and Pieter de Molijn, Portrait of Isaac Abrahamsz. Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Important Dutch master
Frans Hals (1582/83-1666) is one of the most important Dutch masters of the seventeenth century. The Haarlem painter became well known for his striking portraits, colorful genre paintings and large civic guard portraits, but also through the enormous influence he had on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artists as well as on the development of modern painting in general.
4. Vincent Jansz. van der Vinne after Frans Hals, Portrait of Pieter Cornelisz. van der Morsch, Fondation Custodia, Paris – Collection Frits Lugt
A comprehensive catalogue
The first part of the RKD Study Frans Hals and his workshop comprises three monographic chapters on the life, work and reception of Frans Hals. Claus Grimm devotes particular attention to his theory on Hals’s workshop practice and the collaboration with other artists. The newly published second part is a comprehensive catalogue raisonné of all paintings made by Frans Hals and his studio assistants, including works that are only documented through copies or prints, paintings with less straightforward attributions, and modern imitations. To this end, all artworks that are featured in the catalogue have been included in the database RKD images, together with detailed attribution history, provenance information, and references to technical documentation and literature.
New insights
Thanks to new insights gained by technical research, as well as new possibilities for comparing and analyzing works of art in minute detail – using high-resolution digital photographs – Claus Grimm now distinguishes which paintings, or which parts of them, were executed by Hals himself and which were done by studio assistants. A large number of details is reproduced in the publication, providing insight into the arguments for accepting or rejecting specific attributions.
6. Frans Hals, Young woman with a glass and a pitcher, Koetser Gallery, Zürich
Extensive project
The production of this RKD Study was an extensive project, undertaken by the RKD in collaboration with the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, and with the help of many enthusiastic colleagues from all over the world. We specifically express our gratitude towards the Gravin van Bylandt Stichting, the De Gijselaar-Hintzenfonds and Ambassador J. William Middendorf for generously providing additional funding.