Dirck Hals
(Haarlem 1591 — Haarlem 1656)

An Elegant Company Playing a Game of Trictrac in an Interior
inscribed on the reverse with the number 127 and with a red seal believed to be the Moltke family coat—of—arms

oil on panel

14 1/2"×21 1/2" (36.8 cm×54.5 cm)

PROVENANCE:
Collection of Count Adam Gottlob Moltke, Copenhagen 1905, and thus by descent to Count F. C. Moltke, until 1931; Count F. C. Moltke of Bregentved sale, V. Winkel & Magnussen, Copenhagen, June 1-2, 1931, lot 48, where purchased by Professor Einar Perman, Stockholm circa 1930, and thus by descent in the family to Ingrid Krogius, Stockholm until the present time

Literature

Thieles Bogtrykkeri, Fortegnelse over den Moltkeske Malerisamling, Copenhagen, 1905, p. 62, no. 127 H.H. Thieles Bogtrykkeri, Fortegnelse over den Moltkeske Malerisamling, Copenhagen, 1909, no. 127

Dirck Hals was a painter and draughtsman of genre scenes who specialized in merry companies. He was the younger brother and possibly a pupil of Frans Hals (1582/83—1666). Their parents Franchoys Hals and Adriaentgen van Geertenrijck had moved from Antwerp to Haarlem sometime between 1585 and 1591. Like his brother Frans, he was a member of the Civic Guard of St. George in Haarlem and belonged to a society of rhetoricians known as the Wijngaertranken (The Vine Tendrils). Between 1621 and 1635 Dirck and his wife, Agnietje Jans, had seven children including the painter Antonius Hals (1621-1702). Although he lived most of his life in Haarlem, from 1641-43 and again in 1648-1649 as well as possibly the intervening years, he resided in Leiden.

The most notable stylistic influences on his work were those of Willem Buytewech (1591/92—1624) and Esaias van de Velde (1590/91 — 1630). Buytewech lived in Haarlem from 1612-1617 and Van de Velde from 1610 — 1618. The somewhat elongated figures of our work directly reflect those of Buytewech. Hals’s modernity lies within the painting’s content. The scene reveals four elegant young men engaged in a game of trictrac while drinking and smoking. Unusual, but not wholly without precedent in the artist’s work, is the absence of female companionship. Normally a painting in which the vices occur also serve as a foil for their ill effects. Devoid of the temptations of women, and permeated with an air of contentment, the work lacks a moralistic undertone. In this charming panel Dirck Hals’s characteristic conviviality becomes sufficient justification for the scene and does not need further embellishment.

We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer for confirming the painting to be by Dirck Hals.

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