Family group in a landscape

Frans Hals painted Family Group in a Landscape around 1640, one of his later outdoor family portraits that combined the conventions of the formal commissioned portrait with the more relaxed setting of the garden or park. The landscape setting allowed Hals to show the family in a less formal mode than the interior portrait, with greater freedom of pose and expression, while the outdoor light gave his characteristic brushwork a different tonal range from his indoor portraits. The family group — parents with their children arranged in the natural landscape — was a popular format for the prosperous Dutch bourgeoisie who wished to be depicted in an image of domestic harmony and prosperity.

Hals's characteristically bold brushwork animates the group, with the varied poses and the lush landscape setting creating a sense of relaxed domesticity, while the rich fabrics are rendered with his signature economy of means.