Portrait of a Couple

Hals painted this wedding portrait in 1622, in Haarlem. The couple are Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, married that year. Massa was a wealthy merchant who traded with Russia and the Baltic. He was also Hals's friend and patron, and he sat for several portraits over the years. The couple sit in a garden, leaning toward each other with easy familiarity. Isaac, on the left, crosses his legs and rests one hand on his hip. Beatrix, on the right, sits with her hands in her lap and a small smile on her face. Behind them, a garden with a fountain and a path leading to a distant house. The sky is grey-blue. Both figures wear black, as was the Dutch fashion, but the black is built in layers of dark blue, brown, and green that give it depth. Wedding portraits in the Dutch Republic were usually formal, stiff affairs. Hals did something different here. He painted the couple as if they were relaxing in their own garden, caught in a moment of conversation. Isaac's pose is casual, almost jaunty. Beatrix's expression is warm. The garden setting, with its fountain and distant view, adds a note of prosperity and leisure that was unusual for a marriage portrait. Hals was thirty-eight in 1622. He had been painting in Haarlem for a decade and was establishing himself as the city's leading portraitist. His brushwork was already distinctive: loose, quick, built in visible strokes. The lace collars in this painting are a few flicks of white paint. The faces are more carefully worked, but the hands and clothing are painted with the speed that would become his signature. Oil on canvas, 140 by 165 centimeters, roughly 55 by 65 inches. The painting is large for a double portrait, which gives the figures a presence that a smaller format would not. Hals used a warm underlayer beneath the blacks, so the clothing has a brownish depth rather than a flat darkness. The garden behind is painted in loose greens and browns. This print works in a living room or hallway, where the double portrait can be appreciated as a conversation piece. The black costumes and garden background suit a room with white or grey walls and dark furniture. The 18x24 size gives the faces and the garden detail enough room to read. The 16x20 framed version also works in a smaller space. The painting has been in the Rijksmuseum since 1885.