Frans Hals Museum
The finest attraction in Haarlem, this may be a high point of your trip to Holland. The galleries here are the halls and furnished chambers of the Oudemannenhuis (1608), a home for retired gentlemen designed by Ghent architect Lieven de Key, with a courtyard garden. The famous paintings by Frans Hals (ca. 1580-1666) and other Masters of the Haarlem School hang in settings that look like the 17th-century houses they were intended to adorn. Hals, who died here, is best known for works such as The Laughing Cavalier (1624) and The Gypsy Girl (1630) -- neither of which is in the museum -- but he earned his bread and butter by painting portraits of members of the local Schutters (Musketeers) Guild. Typified by his Officers of the Militia Company of St. George (ca. 1627), five such works, whose style inspired van Gogh, hang in the museum, along with six more paintings by Hals.
Look out for a peculiar painting, The Monk and the Beguine (1591) by Cornelisz van Haarlem: It depicts a monk touching a beguine nun's bare breast, and has been interpreted variously as a satire on lecherous behavior in cloisters, or as being symbolic of purity and virginity. You'll also see fine collections of antique silver, porcelain, and clocks. Among other pieces is a superb dollhouse from around 1750 -- though "dollhouse" seems an inadequate description for an exquisitely detailed miniature replica of a merchant's house.
The finest attraction in Haarlem, this may be a high point of your trip to Holland. The galleries here are the halls and furnished chambers of the Oudemannenhuis (1608), a home for retired gentlemen designed by Ghent architect Lieven de Key, with a courtyard garden. The famous paintings by Frans Hals (ca. 1580-1666) and other Masters of the Haarlem School hang in settings that look like the 17th-century houses they were intended to adorn. Hals, who died here, is best known for works such as The Laughing Cavalier (1624) and The Gypsy Girl (1630) -- neither of which is in the museum -- but he earned his bread and butter by painting portraits of members of the local Schutters (Musketeers) Guild. Typified by his Officers of the Militia Company of St. George (ca. 1627), five such works, whose style inspired van Gogh, hang in the museum, along with six more paintings by Hals.
Look out for a peculiar painting, The Monk and the Beguine (1591) by Cornelisz van Haarlem: It depicts a monk touching a beguine nun's bare breast, and has been interpreted variously as a satire on lecherous behavior in cloisters, or as being symbolic of purity and virginity. You'll also see fine collections of antique silver, porcelain, and clocks. Among other pieces is a superb dollhouse from around 1750 -- though "dollhouse" seems an inadequate description for an exquisitely detailed miniature replica of a merchant's house.
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