Frans Hals, Self-Portrait

Frans Hals's Self-Portrait of around 1650, one of several self-portraits in his output, depicts the painter in middle age with the direct self-examination of a portraitist turning his professional eye on himself. The self-portrait's informal directness and the slightly asymmetrical composition create a study in self-knowledge, the painter documenting his own physiognomy with the same unsparing observation he brought to his commissions. Hals's self-portraits are rare and precious documents of a painter who left almost no written record of his life.

The handling should be assessed cautiously given the dating issues. If based on a genuine Hals self-portrait, the composition and characterization may preserve valuable information about the artist's self-image, even if the execution is by a later hand.