Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard
Shown from the hips up, a man with peachy skin and long, brown curly hair and goatee stands in front of a window opening onto a moonlit sky in this vertical portrait painting. His body faces our right and his right fist, closer to us, rests on his hip so his elbow juts toward us. Wearing a dark, wide brimmed hat, he turns his head to look over his right shoulder directly at us. His eyebrows are slightly raised over brown eyes, and he has a bumpy nose, a slight double chin, and pale pink lips that curve in the suggestion of a smile. He wears a golden yellow jacket with buttons along the sleeve we can see. The wrist of the jacket is trimmed with a wide, lace-edged cuff and a similarly wide, lace-trimmed collar lies over the armor breastplate that covers his chest. A marigold-orange sash is tied around the breastplate as well near the waist, and the goldenrod-yellow jacket drapes from a portly belly over his hips. He stands in front of a gray wall pierced with a rectangular window. The view has a veil of dark gray clouds over the moonlit sky.
Details
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 86 x 69 cm (33 7/8 x 27 3/16 in.) framed: 110.2 x 95.3 x 7.6 cm (43 3/8 x 37 1/2 x 3 in.)
- Department
- CNE-B
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
7 tags
Subject Matter
-
Individual Portrait Both · 99%
The title identifies the work as a portrait of a civic guard member, and the image visibly centers one male sitter shown from approximately the hips upward.
-
Eye Contact Visual · 98%
The sitter looks directly outward toward the viewer, making eye contact a prominent compositional feature.
-
Face Visual · 98%
The face is a major focal point and is rendered with individualized features including the eyes, nose, mustache, mouth, and pointed goatee.
Visual Qualities
-
Dark Colors Visual · 95%
Deep browns, black, and muted blue-gray dominate the hat, surrounding wall, armor, and background, with illumination concentrated on the sitter and clothing.
Medium and Techniques
-
Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies the medium as oil on canvas.
-
Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Visual · 87%
Broad, visible strokes are especially apparent in the jacket, sash, lace, hair, and atmospheric background.
Time Periods
-
17th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The National Gallery of Art dates the work to circa 1636/1638, placing it within seventeenth-century art.
Source & rights
Frans Hals. Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.