In the early 17th century, laughter was almost never captured on a painter's canvas. Frans Hals changed that. “He was not a sober painter,” said Friso Lammertse, co-curator of a major exhibition of the Dutch master's paintings that opens this week at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. “The people, they often laugh, and that’s very remarkable in the 17th century that they smile or even laugh, which was hardly done," he added Tuesday at a preview of the exhibition.
Frans Hals is the latest 17th century Dutch master to feature in a major exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, following recent showings of the art of Rembrandt and Vermeer.