Review by Choice Review
An increasing acknowledgement of the artistic connections between the Dutch Republic and the South Netherlands is shaping much current scholarship. This excellent volume by Tummers (Frans Hals Museum) et al. articulates the parallel aesthetic interests among Dutch and Flemish painters, in visible brushwork and subjects. The critical reception of the Venetian Renaissance painter Titian established the theoretical basis for such appreciation of visible painterly strokes. However, the underlying theme of pronounced viscosity in paint links Hals, Rembrandt, and Rubens. Rubens visited Haarlem in 1612 with the intent to hire engravers from that city. Hals spent some months in Antwerp in 1616. Rembrandt was familiar with the works by Rubens that he viewed in Holland, and would have been familiar with Hals's portraits in Amsterdam collections. Hals and Rembrandt, who was some 20 years younger than his Haarlem colleague, each developed his own virtuoso painterly application to capture the vivacity and personality of his sitters. Their interest in the extreme descriptive and suggestive physicality of paint sets them apart from most of their contemporaries. Both had affinity to the Antwerp Rubens and his circle. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners. A. Golahny Lycoming College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
