Merry Drinker | Frans Hals | 1630 | Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
“This militiaman merrily raises his glass to toast us – who would not wish to join him? The execution is just as free and easy as the sitter himself: the swift, spontaneously applied brushstrokes enhance the portrait’s sense of liveliness and animation. The man actually seems to be moving. This bravura painting style ensured the continued success of Frans Hals.”
The National Gallery description (the Frans Hals exhibition in 2023 - 2024):
“A Militiaman holding a Berkemeyer, known as the “Merry Drinker”. This painting sits on the cusp between portraiture and genre imagery. With parted lips and gesticulating right hand, a merry militiaman seems to address us directly. Wine sloshes in the glass (known as a berkemeyer) in his other hand. Hals’s paint application is as free as the man himself. His vivid brushstrokes give the impression of movement and a sense of the sitter’s liveliness and vigour“
