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Frans Post
Frans Post
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

Frans Post

Artist (Dutch, born about 1581, died 1666)
Dateabout 1655
Mediumoil on panel
Dimensionspanel: 27.5 x 23 cm (10 13/16 x 9 1/16 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineStoddard Acquisition Fund
Object number1994.273
Label TextHals is best known for the life-like quality he gave to his subjects through innovative composition and spirited brushwork. The subject of this portrait is a fellow Haarlem painter, Frans Post. Post was the first trained European artist to paint landscapes in the New World, on an expedition to Brazil between 1637 and 1644. The pose struck by the sitter is particularly suitable for an intimate portrait, as Post sits informally with his arm resting on the back of a chair. Hals' portrait of Frans Post dates from about 1655, when both painters were at the height of their artistic careers.ProvenancePossibly sale, Amsterdam, 10 May 1830, no. 142 (1 florin, Gruyter); possibly sale, J. Smies, J.H. Knoop and others, Amsterdam, 24 February 1834, no. 45; sale, Albert Levy, London, 6 April 1876, no. 338 ( 157:10s); J. Walter, Bearwood; dealer C. Sedelmeyer, Catalogue, 1902, no. 19; H. Texeira de Mattos, Vogelezang; dealer F. Muller and Co., Amsterdam; P.A.B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; sale, P.A.B. Widener, Amsterdam (Muller), 10 July 1923, no. 110; dealer Knoedler, New York; George Lindsay, St. Paul, Minnesota, who bequeathed it to his nephew Edwin B. Lindsay, Davenport, Iowa; by descent to the present owner, Nelson Goodman, Weston, Massachusetts.
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