National Gallery Company Ltd

An illuminating study of the singularly gifted Dutch artist Frans Hals, a true revolutionary in the field of portraiture and one of the most sought-after painters of his generation This beautifully illustrated book offers a fresh scholarly appraisal of Frans Hals, more than 30 years since the last large exhibition devoted to his work. Essays cover all the important aspects of Hals’s oeuvre, including his militia paintings, his spectacular family portraits and his depictions of laughter: he was one of very few artists throughout the history of Western painting who successfully managed to paint people smiling and laughing. The texts also provide an overview of the artist’s life, and examine his extraordinarily virtuoso technique, which involved painting extremely fast straight on to the canvas. The authors set out to place Hals and his work firmly in the context of his time, employing new previously unpublished archival research and technical findings. For the first time, an overview is given of all the apprentices who worked for Hals. Other themes, such as the design for portrait prints or the humour seen in the works of Frans Hals, have never before been treated separately. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London (September 30, 2023–January 21, 2024) The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (February 15–June 9, 2024)

An exploration of Durer's career and legacy as an international traveling artist The visual legacy of Durer's travels extends far beyond his lifetime and throughout Europe, and the documents illuminating them offer unique insights into the distinctive ways Durer conducted and managed his career, making him an intriguing-and even controversial-figure. This generously illustrated book examines the career of preeminent Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) as an international traveler, addressing his relations with artists from Italy to the Low Countries, including Giovanni Bellini, Joos van Cleve, Jan Gossaert, Lucas van Leyden, Quentin Massys, and Bernard van Orley. Bringing together paintings, drawings and prints, the book examines Durer as an artist-entrepreneur, explorer, and innovator of artistic theory. Durer's treatises and letters, and his detailed journal documenting his journey to the Low Countries in 1520-1, offer insights into his artistic practices and encounters with artists and patrons, as well as the nature of travel in the early 16th century.