"But he is your most distinguished artist,"
I said. It was great heresy and not to be tolerated. To the ordinary
Dutchman art begins with Rembrandt and ends with Israels. This perhaps
is why Matthew Maris has taken refuge in St. John's Wood.
And now we come to Haarlem's chief glory--which is not Coster the
printer, and not the church of Bavo the Saint, and not the tulip
gardens, and not the florid and beautiful Meat Market; but the painter
Frans Hals, whose masterpieces hang in the Town Hall.
I have called Hals the glory of Haarlem, yet he was only an adopted
son, having been born in Antwerp about 1580. But his parents were
true Haarlemers, and Frans was a resident there before he reached
man's estate.
The painter's first marriage was not happy; he was even publicly
reprimanded for cruelty to his wife. In spite of the birth of his
eldest child just thirty-four weeks earlier than the proprieties
require, his second marriage seems to have been fortunate enough. Some
think that we see Mynheer and Myvrouw Hals in the picture--No. 1084
in the Ryks Museum--which is reproduced on the opposite page. If this
jovial and roguish pair are really the painter and his wife, they were
a merry couple. Children they had in abundance; seven sons, five of
whom were painters, and three daughters.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202