Only in retrospect was the 17th century in Holland seen as the age of Rembrandt. At the time, it was the glittering solidity of a moneyed middle class, the robust freedom of a people unburdened by spendthrift and the plain cockiness of the most successful seafaring nation in Europe that struck the eye. These are characteristics that Frans Hals pictured with precision.
Rembrandt, after a successful early career, turned his back on his age; Hals was its constant mirror.
Unlike Rembrandt, who often made his patrons subservient to his art, Hals rarely...
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