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(1591-1656)

Dirck was the younger brother of Frans Hals; he was born in Haarlem in 1591. Frans was probably also his first teacher, but the painters who influenced Dirck were Esaias van de Velde and Willem Buytewech. Apart from a few small portraits, he devoted himself exclusively to the painting of conversation pieces ¨C the cheerful life of prosperous burghers in their houses, gardens, or public places. Dirck was not interested in the serious side of life; in his work he depicted people in conversation or while flirting, making music and dancing, eating and drinking. His interiors are hardly worked out, all the emphasis is put on fashionable dress and colorful representation. He succeeded in rendering people¡¯s high spirits through facial expression, costly dress, posture and loose grouping.

Dirck Hals died in Haarlem in 1656.