A Family Group in a Landscape, Frans Hals

A Family Group in a Landscape, Frans Hals (1647)

We are looking at a family group, a mother and father surrounded by their seven children with a nursemaid holding the latest baby. There are two centres of attention among the sitters, formed around the two youngest children – just what you might expect in a large family.

These poses and interactions might seem spontaneous, but the arrangement is carefully composed. There is, for example, a clear hierarchy of the sexes. The men form the core of the family group, the father centre stage and his two older sons flanking him.

While we don’t know the name of the family, the style of the costumes suggests that it was probably painted in the late 1640s. The canvas has probably been cut down at the top and bottom. The background landscape is by another artist, possibly Pieter de Molijn or Reyer Claesz. Suycker.