Laughing Boy with a Flute

Laughing boy with a flute is a painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, painted in 1626 and now in the Staatliches Museum Schwerin, Schwerin.

Painting

The painting shows a boy with a flute with his head at an angle facing the viewer.

Provenance

In his 1910 catalog of Frans Hals works Hofstede de Groot wrote: "32. A LAUGHING BOY WITH A FLUTE. B. 118 ; M. 230. Half-length ; life size, almost in full face. The line of the shoulders rises to the left. The head is also almost in full face, but slightly inclined to the left. The long hair falls down, but a lock dangles just above the right shoulder. The eyes look at the spectator. The left hand holds a flute. Light-grey background. Broadly painted. The ground shows through the paint. A life-like rendering. [Pendant to 11.] Circular panel, 15 inches across. In the Schwerin Museum, 1882 catalogue, No. 444"^[1]

This painting is a pendant to Boy with a glass and tin can and the pair has long been considered to be part of a series on the five senses, where this one symbolizes hearing and the drinking boy symbolizes taste:

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  Boy with a glass and tin can

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  Laughing boy with a flute

References

Frans Hals
Paintings	Portrait of a Woman Standing The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616 Shrovetide Revellers Portrait of a Woman Standing (Kassel) The Rommelpot Player Two Singing Boys with a Lute and a Music Book Catharina Both-van der Eem Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart Laughing Cavalier The Lute Player Laughing Boy with Flute Laughing Boy with a Flute Boy with a Glass and a Lute The Smoker The Fingernail Test The Gypsy Girl St. John St. Matthew St. Luke St. Mark Willem van Heythuysen Posing with a Sword Laughing Boy Cunera van Baersdorp¨ Portrait of Isaak Abrahamsz. Massa Portrait of Anna van der Aar Young Man with a Skull The Banquet of the Officers of the St Adrian Militia Company in 1627 The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1627 Portrait of a Woman in a Chair Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer Laughing Fisherboy Peeckelhaeringh The Merry Drinker Malle Babbe Smiling Fishergirl Fisher Boy with Basket The Fisher Boy Sara Wolphaerts van Diemen Cornelia Claesdr Voogt The Officers of the St Adrian Militia Company in 1633 Portrait of a Man with a Beer Jug Portrait of a Man in a Yellowish-Gray Jacket Catharina Brugmans Feyntje Steenkiste Hylck Boner Meagre Company Portrait of a Woman (Marie Larp) Pieter Tjarck Claes Duyst van Voorhout Maria Pietersdr Olycan Maritge Claesdr. Voogt The Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1639 Portrait of Dorothea Berck Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse Regentesses of the Old Men's Almshouse
Catalogs raisonné	1974 1989
Other	Dutch Golden Age painting Haarlem School (painting) Tronie Naturalism (art) Flemish Baroque painting
Related	Karel van Mander (teacher) Dirck Hals (brother) Harmen Hals (son) Frans Hals Junior (son) Jan Hals (son) Reynier Hals (son) Nicolaes Hals (son) Théophile Thoré-Bürger Seymour Slive Claus Grimm
Public collections	Frans Hals Museum Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Mauritshuis