Clip & save art notes - discussion of artist Frans Hals's Malle Babbe

Arts & Activities, Oct, 2002

Frans Hals (1582-1666), Malle Babbe, 1633-35. Oil on canvas; 75 cm x 64 cm. Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany.

ABOUT THIS PAINTING

While students will enjoy looking at other portraits by Frans Hals, they are sure to enjoy this one of a cackling old woman in a Dutch tavern. They might also like to know that another title for the painting is "The Witch of Haarlem."

The painting is thought by many people to be the best example of the artist's power to capture the character of a person, partly because Hals didn't have to flatter this subject as he did with his wealthy, fee-paying clients. In fact, several Dutch artists divided their paintings between wealthy people who wanted to be shown as very important and common people who visited taverns to have their fun and didn't care how they were shown in a painting. Hals also painted group portraits of families, city dignitaries, swashbuckling soldiers and laughing children--all with varying degrees of the spontaneous style seen here.

The brushstrokes were made rapidly and energetically so that the picture was completed very quickly. It is clear that he didn't have to hesitate and think about what brushstrokes to use next; it came naturally to him because he had spent his whole life improving his art. Just by looking at the picture, it is easy to see that he knew exactly where each stroke was to go as he did it.

While we cannot hear her laugh, it is easy to imagine a wild, animal-like cackle as the old woman sits at a table with a large tankard of beer beside her. From the numbers of paintings of the interiors of Dutch taverns, we know that they were dark and often crowded, and that they were usually furnished with rough wooden tables and benches. Moreover, because of spilled beer, tobacco smoke and coal-burning fireplaces, they probably didn't smell very nice.

It is easy to see that this picture was painted without any special preparation. It is likely to have been painted on a stretched canvas that Hals had lying around, rather than on a specially prepared canvas. It's most probable that Hals just sat down and quickly painted it. How long did it take? No one knows. But we do know that the spontaneity of Hals' painting style--especially in this particular painting--is much like jazz music where the musician chooses his or her notes as he or she plays, as in improvisational music, compared with the careful reading and interpretation of musical notes printed on paper.

Although Malle Babbe's clothing is painted with great slashing brushstrokes over the black color of the dress, they are painted with great understanding of how cloth creases and folds. Her white collar is painted in much the same way, showing us that it is creased and bent out of shape--and very unlike the portraits that Hals painted of his wealthy lady patrons, where every fold in their collars was perfect. The close-fitting white bonnet is equally ordinary. And even though the tankard was obviously painted quickly, it is clear that the artist knew exactly how that cylindrical drinking vessel would reflect light and how its circular shape would appear distorted.

The most important feature of the painting, of course, is the face of Malle Babbe. Lesser artists might have painted the face more carefully than the rest of the painting, but not Frans Hals. He used the same vigorous style and disregard for detail that he had already used. As a result, individual brushstrokes are easy to see, whether painted as shadows or highlights. The nose, for example, is made to appear as though it sticks out from the face, with a roughly painted area of white that seems to have been added last of all.

The owl on Malle Babbe's shoulder adds meaning to the portrait. At the time--400 years ago--when the picture was painted, an owl was often thought to be connected to such things as the powers of evil, although it was also--and more likely in this picture--to have to do with foolishness, stupidity and drunkenness. Interestingly, the owl was painted so carelessly that it seems more like an afterthought and is hardly recognizable as an owl.

Students may be interested to learn that the old woman was a well-known character who not only drank too much, but was also mentally disturbed. In the end, she had to be confined to the Haarlem house of correction because she became uncontrollable.--G.H.