About the Artwork
The postimpressionist painted Vincent van Gogh once observed, "Frans Hals must have had twenty-seven shades of black." Hal's celebrated facility with that color is on full offer in this half-length portrait, in which a bearded male figure wearing a fitted black jacket and matching skullcap turns alertly toward the viewer. The blackof the clothing is far from uniform: the warm, plush shade of black evokes embroidered velvet, while a colder, bluer black stands in for shimmering satin. Against these dark tonalities, the small book in the sitter's right hand stands out in sharp relief. This is likely a Bible or a prayer book, as a contemporary engraving of the picture identifies the subject as Hendrik Swalmius, a preacher in Haarlem who was ordained in 1600.
Portrait of Hendrik Swalmius
1639
Frans Hals
ca. between 1582 and 1583-1666
Dutch
Unknown
Oil on oak panel
Unframed: 10 5/8 × 7 7/8 inches (27 × 20 cm) Framed: 20 × 17 1/4 × 2 inches (50.8 × 43.8 × 5.1 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
City of Detroit and Founders Society Joint Purchase
49.347
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
Signed and dated, right corner: AETAT | 1639 | FH [monogram interconnected]
------
Provenance
Mrs. Brown Lindsay (Colstoun, Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland)
December 12, 1934, sold by (Sotheby's, London, England) lot 65
Asscher & Welker (London, England)
H.E. ten Cate (Almelo, Netherlands)
1936, (D. Katz, Dieren, Netherlands)
(Nathan Katz, Katz Gallerie, Basel, Switzerland)
1949-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
Please note: This section is empty
The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Moes, E.W. Iconographia Batava. Amsterdam, 1897-1905, no. 7720.
Moes, E.W. Frans Hals, sa Vie et son Oeuvre. The Hague, 1909, no. 75.
Hofstede de Groot, C. Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. London, vol. 3, 1910, no. 228.
Bode, W. von, and M.J.Binde. Frans Hals, sein Leben und seine Werke. Berlin, 1914, no. 296.
Valentiner, W.R. Frans Hals. Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart and Berlin (KdK), 1921, no. 217.
Valentiner, W.R. "Great Hals Exhibit Opens in Detroit." Art News 33, no. 15 (1935): pp. 3-11.
Fell, H.G. "A Recovered Franz Hals." Connoisseur 95 (February 1935): p. 105, (ill.) p. 104.
Valentiner, W.R. "New Additions to the Work of Frans Hals." Art in America 23 (June 1935): pp. 96, 102, no. 17 (ill.).
Oude Kunst uit het Bezit van den Internationalen Handel. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam, 1936, p. 17, cat. 69 (ill.).
Tentoonstelling van de 16de en 17de Eeuwsche Hollandsche, Vlaamsche en Italiaansch Schilderijen uit de Collectie F.A D. Katz te Dieren. Exh. cat., Stedelijk van Abbe-Museum. Eindhoven, 1936, p. 12, no. 24 (ill.).
Frans Hals. Exh. cat., Frans Hals Museum. Haarlem, 1937, pp. 45-46, cat. 77, pl. 63.
Masterpieces of Art. Exh. cat., World's Fair. New York, 1939, cat. 183.
Masterpieces of Art from Foreign Collections (European Paintings from the Two World's Fairs). Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1939, p. 8, cat. 20 (ill.).
Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections (European Paintings from the Two World's Fairs of 1939). Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1941, p. 11, cat. 27.
Richardson, E.P. "A Portrait of Hendrik Swalmius." Bulletin of the DIA 29 (1949-1950): pp. 3-5 (cover ill.).
Richardson, E.P. "A Portrait of Hendrik Swalmius by Frans Hals." Art Quarterly 12, no. 4 (1949): pp. 375, 377, (ill.) p. 374.
"Detroit Acquires Long Lost Hals Portrait." Art Digest 23, no. 20 (1949): p. 14 (ill.).
Frans Hals. Exh. cat., Frans Hals Museum. Haarlem, 1962, p. 57, cat. 42 (fig. 47).
Seventeenth Century Painters of Haarlem. Exh. cat., Allentown Art Museum. Allentown, 1965, p.34, cat. 37 (ill.).
Slive, S. Frans Hals, 3 vols. London, 1970-1974, vol. 1, pp. 129-130 (fig. 127) vol. 2, pl. 204; vol. 3, p. 67, cat. 126.
Detroit Institute of Arts Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 100 (ill.).
Grimm, C. Frans Hals Entwicklung. Werkanalyse. Gesamtkatalog. Berlin, 1972, p. 100, 203, no. A27. [cites DIA painting as a copy.]
Nederlandse portretten uit de 17e eeuw. Exh. cat., Museum Boymans-van Beuningen. Rotterdam, 1995, p. 95, cited under cat. 21 (ill.).
A Moral Compass: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Painting in the Netherlands. Exh. cat., Grand Rapids Art Muesum. Grand Rapids, 1999, pp. 60-61, cat. 9 (ill.).
Montias, John Michael. Art at Auction in 17th Century Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 2002, pp. 292, note 566.
Keyes, George S. et al. Masters of Dutch Painting: The Detroit Institute of Arts. London, 2004, pp. 90-91, no. 34 (ill.).
Keyes, G.S. "A Brief History of the European Paintings Collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts with a Focus on the Dutch School." in the catalogue for The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF). Maastricht, 2005, pp. 10-15.
Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.
Suggest FeedbackCatalogue Raisoneé
Please note: This section is empty
Credit Line for Reproduction
Frans Hals, Portrait of Hendrik Swalmius, 1639, oil on oak panel. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit and Founders Society Joint Purchase, 49.347.
Feedback
We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
