Art shock? Frans Hals painted Holland’s greatest composer
mainAn unsigned 1606 portrait of the Dutch master-composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck has been identified by a musicologist Pieter Dirksen as the work of the young Haarlem painter Frans Hals.
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) was organist of Amsterdam’s central Oude Kerk for 40 years, a towering figure in Dutch music. Hals was still unknown at the time.
The painting was previously attributed to Gerrit Pieterszoon, Sweelinck’s younger brother.
Dirksen’s book has been published for the composer’s 400th anniversary.
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