Malle Babbe
Malle Babbe | |
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Artist | Frans Hals |
Year | c. 1633-1635 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 75 cm × 64 cm (30 in × 25 in) |
Location | Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
Malle Babbe is a painting by the
The painting has been an object of artistic admiration from Hals's lifetime, as there are several copies and variants painted by his followers. It was admired by Gustave Courbet, who made a copy of it in 1869 while it was on view in Munich.[3]
Painting
The painting is an oil on canvas measuring 75 × 64 cm and shows the face of a smiling woman, sitting at the corner of a table, apparently talking or laughing at someone or something to the right of the canvas. With her right hand, the woman is gripping a pewter beer mug with an opened lid. An owl sits on the woman's left shoulder. The clothing of the woman is simple and corresponds with the mode around 1630 in Haarlem. Her face is animated in an almost manic grimace. The very free handling of paint is typical of Hals' style, and not very different from that on his more formal commissioned portraits.
Name
The painting was for a long time mislabelled as Retarded Man (alternatively The Witch of Haarlem) through a misreading of the inscription on the back of the picture frame which in fact reads Malle Babbe van Haerlem … Fr[a]ns Hals (Malle Babbe of Haarlem).
Under the witch interpretation, the owl was considered a possible
The real Malle Babbe
Research in the
Other paintings
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is in possession of a similar painting. It is not clear who the creator of this painting is. In the past it was also attributed to Frans Hals, but it is now thought to be the work of one of his pupils.[4]
Another variant depicts Malle Babbe accompanied by a male drinker. There are two paintings of unknown authorship in which she is depicted with a male figure adapted from a work by Adriaen Brouwer. Both figures are depicted behind a table full of fish.[5] There are also two portraits apparently depicting Babbe, but without the owl.[6]
Song
External videos | |
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Hals's Malle Babbe, Smarthistory[2] |
In the Netherlands, the painting also gave its name to a well-known song, written by Boudewijn de Groot and Lennaert Nijgh and first performed in 1973 by Rob de Nijs. The actual subject of the song "Malle Babbe" however was inspired by another painting by Frans Hals, The Gypsy Girl, depicting a busty young woman, possibly a prostitute.[7] The song celebrates her lusty sexuality. However, it also refers to her having frothy beer in a tavern, the setting for Malle Babbe, not The Gypsy Girl. Both pictures were seen by Nijgh in a 1962 exhibition.
See also
References
- ^ "Malle Babbe". Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums). Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ a b c "Hals's Malle Babbe". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
- JSTOR 874065.
- ^ a b "Malle Babbe, Style of Frans Hals". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- ^ Slive, Seymour Slive, Frans Hals, 3 volumes, Phaidon Press Ltd., London, 1974, p.141.
- ^ Slive 1974 Volume 3 page 141-142
- ISBN 9789071359057