''Laughing boy with a flute'' is an oil-on-panel painting by the
Dutch Golden Age painter
Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence.
The new Dutch Republi ...
Frans Hals
Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...
, painted in 1626 and now in the
Staatliches Museum Schwerin
The Staatliches Museum Schwerin (State Museum Schwerin) is an art gallery and museum in Schwerin in Germany. It was established by Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1882 its historicist Haupthaus as the ''Staatsgalerie' ...
,
Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...
.
Painting
The painting shows a boy with a flute with his head at an angle facing the viewer.
Provenance
In his 1910 catalog of Frans Hals works
Hofstede de Groot Hofstede de Groot is a Dutch surname. Notable people with this surname include:
* Petrus Hofstede de Groot (1802–1886), Dutch theologian
* Cornelis Hofstede de Groot
Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (9 November 1863 – 14 April 1930), was a Dutch ...
wrote: "32. A LAUGHING BOY WITH A FLUTE. B. 118; M. 230. Half-length; life size, almost in full face. The line of the shoulders rises to the left. The head is also almost in full face, but slightly inclined to the left. The long hair falls down, but a lock dangles just
above the right shoulder. The eyes look at the spectator. The left hand holds a flute. Light-grey background. Broadly painted. The ground shows through the paint. A life-like rendering.
endant to 11.Circular panel, 15 inches across. In the Schwerin Museum, 1882 catalogue, No. 444"
Hofstede de Groot
on A Laughing Boy with a Flute; catalog number 32
This painting is a pendant to '' Boy with a glass and a pewter jug'' and the pair has long been considered to be part of a series on the five senses, where this one symbolizes hearing and the drinking boy symbolizes taste:
File:Frans Hals - Drinking Boy (Taste) - WGA11089.jpg, ''Boy with a glass and a pewter jug''
File:Frans Hals - Boy holding a Flute (Hearing) - WGA11090.jpg, ''Laughing boy with a flute''
See also
* List of paintings by Frans Hals
References
1626 paintings
Paintings by Frans Hals
Paintings in Schwerin
Musical instruments in art
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