# Buffoon Playing a Lute [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [HALS, Frans]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 70 x 62 cm ## Commentary Hals's debt to the Utrecht Caravaggists is evident in his life-size genre pictures of musicians, drinkers, actors, and children of the 1620s and 1630s. But there are some significant differences. Hals was never fascinated by the experiments the Caravaggesque painters conducted with dramatic chiaroscuro effects produced by artificial light. The instantaneous expressions of his subjects never freeze into grimaces, and even when his models are dressed in costumes, he never creates the impression that they are posing in a studio; he always convinces us that we are watching a fleeting moment of life. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 2 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/16\_cent/milano\_lute.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Francesco da Milano: Tre fantasie for lute</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [A Young Man in a Large Hat]() - [Andries van der Horn]() - [Anetta Hanemans]() - [Anna van der Aar]() - [Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard Company]() - [Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard \(detail\)]() - [Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard]() - [Banquet of the Officers of the St Hadrian Civic Guard Company]() - [Boy holding a Flute \(Hearing\)]() - [Boy Playing a Violin]() - [Boy with a Lute]() - [Catharina Both van der Eem]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()