Laughing Boy with Flute

Laughing Boy with a Flute is a painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, painted in the early 1620s.

Painting

This painting was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1910, who wrote "31. A LAUGHING BOY WITH A FLUTE. M. 240. Half-length, in profile to the left. The head is three-quarters left. The long hair falls in disorder. The lips are parted, showing the teeth. On the left the flute is held upright in the right hand. The eyes look to the left and slightly upward. Lifelike colour in the face. Circular panel, n| inches across the grain of the wood running diagonally. A copy is in the Boucher de Perthes Museum, Abbeville. In the collection of the late Alfred Beit, London. In the collection of Otto Beit, London."^[1]

Hofstede de Groot noted several laughing boys by Hals along with this one (catalogue numbers 11 through to 39). This painting was also documented by W.R. Valentiner in 1923.^[2]

Other boys painted by Hals in round tondos:

• 

  Boy with a soap bubble, Louvre Museum

• 

  Laughing Boy, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

• 

  Laughing Boy (painting), Mauritshuis

• 

  Laughing boy with a flute, Staatliches Museum Schwerin

References

Frans Hals
Paintings	Portrait of a Woman Standing The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616 Shrovetide Revellers Portrait of a Woman Standing (Kassel) The Rommelpot Player Two Singing Boys with a Lute and a Music Book Catharina Both-van der Eem Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart Laughing Cavalier The Lute Player Laughing Boy with Flute Laughing Boy with a Flute Boy with a Glass and a Lute The Smoker The Fingernail Test The Gypsy Girl St. John St. Matthew St. Luke St. Mark Willem van Heythuysen Posing with a Sword Laughing Boy Cunera van Baersdorp¨ Portrait of Isaak Abrahamsz. Massa Portrait of Anna van der Aar Young Man with a Skull The Banquet of the Officers of the St Adrian Militia Company in 1627 The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1627 Portrait of a Woman in a Chair Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer Laughing Fisherboy Peeckelhaeringh The Merry Drinker Malle Babbe Smiling Fishergirl Fisher Boy with Basket The Fisher Boy Sara Wolphaerts van Diemen Cornelia Claesdr Voogt The Officers of the St Adrian Militia Company in 1633 Portrait of a Man with a Beer Jug Portrait of a Man in a Yellowish-Gray Jacket Catharina Brugmans Feyntje Steenkiste Hylck Boner Meagre Company Portrait of a Woman (Marie Larp) Pieter Tjarck Claes Duyst van Voorhout Maria Pietersdr Olycan Maritge Claesdr. Voogt The Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1639 Portrait of Dorothea Berck Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse Regentesses of the Old Men's Almshouse
Catalogs raisonné	1974 1989
Other	Dutch Golden Age painting Haarlem School (painting) Tronie Naturalism (art) Flemish Baroque painting
Related	Karel van Mander (teacher) Dirck Hals (brother) Harmen Hals (son) Frans Hals Junior (son) Jan Hals (son) Reynier Hals (son) Nicolaes Hals (son) Théophile Thoré-Bürger Seymour Slive Claus Grimm
Public collections	Frans Hals Museum Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Mauritshuis