Dirck
was the younger brother of Frans Hals; he was born
in Haarlem in 1591. Frans was probably also his first teacher, but the
painters who influenced Dirck were Esaias van de Velde and Willem Buytewech.
Apart from a few small portraits, he devoted himself exclusively to the
painting of conversation pieces – the cheerful life of prosperous burghers
in their houses, gardens, or public places. Dirck was not interested in
the serious side of life; in his work he depicted people in conversation
or while flirting, making music and dancing, eating and drinking. His interiors
are hardly worked out, all the emphasis is put on fashionable dress and
colorful representation. He succeeded in rendering people’s high spirits
through facial expression, costly dress, posture and loose grouping.
Dirck Hals died in Haarlem in 1656.
Bibliography:
Dutch Genre Painting. XVII century. by E. Fehner. Moscow. Izobrazitelnoe
Iskusstvo. 1979.