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Portrait of a Man holding Gloves

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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The sitter in this portrait is clearly a prosperous man, conventionally but expensively dressed in the style of the mid-1640s. Beyond that, no evidence has survived – we don’t know who he is. Nevertheless, this portrait is a good example of Hals’s ability both to capture a convincing likeness and to make his sitters seem to come alive. The man here leans back slightly, thrusting his elbow towards us. This, and the way that he tilts his head and grasps his gloves in his left hand, lifting them slightly as he does so, implies movement – a moment captured.

Hals had to work on the pose to achieve this effect. If you look carefully at the outline of the man’s hat and left arm, you can see that the artist made changes to his first draft, shifting the sitter back slightly in a way that emphasises the tilt of the head and the jut of the elbow.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Portrait of a Man holding Gloves

Date

about 1645

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 78.5 x W 67.3 cm

Accession number

NG2528

Acquisition method

Salting Bequest, 1910

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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