ontinued to flourish, with the
assistance of some relief from the town, for a considerable period.

In the Haarlem Museum may be seen a picture of Hals' studio, painted
by Berck Heyde, in 1652, containing portraits of Hals himself, then
about seventy, and several of his old pupils--Wouvermans, Dirck Hals,
his brother, four of his sons, the artist himself and others. Hals
taught also Van der Helst, whose work at times comes nearest to his
own, Verspronk, Terburg and Adrian van Ostade.

To see the work of Hals at his best it is necessary to visit Holland,
for we have but little here. The "Laughing Cavalier" in the Wallace
Collection is perhaps his best picture in a public gallery in
England. But the Haarlem Museum is a temple dedicated to his fame,
and there you may revel in his lusty powers.

The room in which his great groups hang is perhaps in effect more
filled with faces than any in the world. Entering the door one is
immediately beneath the bold and laughing scrutiny of a host of genial
masterful arquebusiers, who make merry on the walls for all time. Such
a riot of vivid portraiture never was! Other men have painted single
heads as well or better: but Hals stands alone in his gusto, his
abundance, his surpassing brio. It is a thousand pities that neither
Lamb nor Hazlitt ever made the journey to Haarlem, because only they
among our writers on art could have brought a commensurate gusto to
the praise of his brush.

I have reproduced one of the groups opposite page 150, but the result
is no more than a memento of the original. It conveys, however,
an impression of the skill in composition by which the group is
made not only a collection of portraits but a picture too. If such
groups there must be, this is the way to paint them. The Dutch in
the seventeenth century had a perfect mania for these commemorative
canvases, and there is not a stadhuis but has one or more. Rembrandt's
"Night Watch" and Hals' Haarlem groups are the greatest; but one
is always surprised by the general level of excellence maintained,
and now and then a lesser man such as Van der Helst climbs very nigh
the rose, as in his "De Schuttersmaaltyd" in the "Night Watch" room
in the Ryks Museum. The Corporation pieces of Jan van Ravesteyn in
the Municipal Museum at The Hague are also exceedingly vivid; while
Jan de Bray's canvases at Haarlem, in direct competition with Hals',
would be very good indeed in the absence of their rivals.

Among other