 frans hals the elder (c. 1582 â 26 august 1666) was a dutch golden age portrait painter who lived and worked in haarlem, though he was born in the southern netherlands (present-day belgium). he is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and he helped introduce this lively style of painting into dutch art. hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group portraiture. ==biography== hals was born in 1582 or 1583, in antwerp as the son of the cloth merchant franchois fransz hals van mechelen (c.1542â1610) and his second wife adriaentje van geertenryck.frans hals iat the netherlands institute for art history  like many, hals' parents fled during the fall of antwerp (1584â1585) from the spanish netherlands to haarlem, where he lived for the remainder of his life. hals studied under another flemish Ã©migrÃ©, karel van mander.slive, seymour, frans hals, and p. biesboer (1989). frans hals. munich: prestel. p. 379. his mannerist influence, however, is not noticeably visible in his work. in 1610, hals became a member of the haarlem guild of saint luke, and he started to earn money as an art restorer for the city council. he worked on their large art collection that karel van mander had described in his schilderboeck ("painter's book") published in haarlem in 1604. the most notable of these were the works of geertgen tot sint jans, jan van scorel and jan mostaert, that hung in the st. janskerk in haarlem. the restoration work was paid for by the city of haarlem, since all catholic religious art had been confiscated after the satisfactie van haarlem, which gave catholics equal rights to protestants, had been reversed in 1578. however, the entire collection of paintings was not formally possessed by the city council until 1625, after the city fathers had decided which paintings were suitable for the city hall. the remaining art that was considered too "roman catholic" was sold to cornelis claesz van wieringen, a fellow guild member, on the condition that he remove it from the city. it was in this cultural context 
1580s_births 1666_deaths Artists_from_Haarlem Dutch_Golden_Age_painters Dutch_painters Dutch_portrait_painters Frans_Hals Members_of_the_Haarlem_Guild_of_Saint_Luke People_from_Antwerp