Where Is The Laughing Cavalier? See It at Wallace Collection

Q: Where can I see The Laughing Cavalier?

It's at the Wallace Collection in London. Frans Hals painted it in 1624. The Wallace Collection is free to visit. The work the museum's most famous work.

Q: Is the cavalier actually laughing?

No. He's not laughing at all. The title is a 19th-century invention. The man has an upturned mustache and a slight smirk, but his expression is more confident and self-assured than amused. Hals never titled the portrait, and the sitter's identity remains unknown.

Q: What makes the painting technically impressive?

Hals's virtuosic brushwork on the embroidered sleeve is legendary. Up close, the fabric dissolves into bold, seemingly random strokes. From a distance, they resolve into convincing silk embroidery with bees, arrows, and flaming cornucopias, symbols possibly related to love and courtship.

Q: How big is the painting?

It measures 83 cm × 67.3 cm (32.7 × 26.5 inches). The man wears fashionable Dutch Golden Age clothing: a wide-brimmed hat, lace collar, and that spectacular embroidered sleeve. The bold, direct gaze engages the viewer with unusual confidence.

Q: How did Hals influence later artists?

His loose, spontaneous brushwork was radical. Where other Baroque painters blended carefully, Hals left visible strokes that captured life and movement. Manet, Sargent, and the Impressionists all studied his technique. Manet specifically traveled to Haarlem to see Hals's work.

Frans Hals painted The Laughing Cavalier in 1624, though the man neither laughs nor is clearly a cavalier. The title was invented by Victorian audiences when the painting arrived in England. An inscription tells us the sitter was 26 years old; his identity remains unknown. Some suggest linen merchant Tieleman Roosterman, but nothing is confirmed.

The subject's upturned mustache and half-smile give an impression of amusement, amplified by his confident pose with hand on hip. His costume is notable: an elaborately embroidered doublet featuring symbols of love, fortune, and virtue. The black sash demonstrates Hals's legendary ability to paint with a limited palette. Van Gogh claimed Hals "must have had 27 blacks."

The canvas measures 83 by 67.3 centimeters and hangs at the Wallace Collection in London. The 4th Marquess of Hertford bought it at auction in Paris in 1865 for 51,000 francs, eleven times what the previous owner paid. It's been one of Britain's most beloved portraits ever since.

It's at the Wallace Collection in London. Frans Hals painted it in 1624. The Wallace Collection is free to visit. The work the museum's most famous work.

No. He's not laughing at all. The title is a 19th-century invention. The man has an upturned mustache and a slight smirk, but his expression is more confident and self-assured than amused. Hals never titled the portrait, and the sitter's identity remains unknown.

Hals's virtuosic brushwork on the embroidered sleeve is legendary. Up close, the fabric dissolves into bold, seemingly random strokes. From a distance, they resolve into convincing silk embroidery with bees, arrows, and flaming cornucopias, symbols possibly related to love and courtship.

It measures 83 cm × 67.3 cm (32.7 × 26.5 inches). The man wears fashionable Dutch Golden Age clothing: a wide-brimmed hat, lace collar, and that spectacular embroidered sleeve. The bold, direct gaze engages the viewer with unusual confidence.

His loose, spontaneous brushwork was radical. Where other Baroque painters blended carefully, Hals left visible strokes that captured life and movement. Manet, Sargent, and the Impressionists all studied his technique. Manet specifically traveled to Haarlem to see Hals's work.

The Laughing Cavalier

Details

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Frans Hals

Portrait of a Man

Catarina Both van der Eem

Pieter Cornelisz. Van der Morsch

Shrovetide Revellers (The Merry Company)

Also at Wallace Collection

Napoleon and his Staff

Cardinal Mazarin Dying

Sunrise in a Wood

Harpsichord Lesson

Related Baroque Works

Laocoön

The Rokeby Venus

The Lacemaker

Woman Reading a Letter

Girl with the Red Hat

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Woman Holding a Balance

Las Meninas

About The Laughing Cavalier

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