On 1 September 2020, the Frans Hals Museum and CODART jointly organize the third Frans Hals Lecture. The first Frans Hals Lecture was held on 1 September 2016 in the St Bavo’s Church in Haarlem. On this day in 1666, 350 years earlier, Frans Hals was buried in this church in Haarlem. The lecture consists of a scholarly lecture and a literary essay. It was set up as a biennial event, intended for peers (academics, museum professionals) and Frans Hals adepts.
In 2016 the scholarly lecture was given by Prof. Dr. Eric Jan Sluijter on the reception of Frans Hals’s work. The literary essay was delivered by former CODART director Dr. Gerdien Verschoor, who wrote a fictional essay involving a work by Frans Hals in the Frans Hals Museum. In 2018 the scholarly lecture was given by Dr. Dennis Weller about Hals in the USA. The literary essay was delivered by Kristien Hemmerechts.
This year‘s Frans Hals Lecture will take place online due to Covid-19, and not at the St Bavo’s Church in Haarlem. Speakers include Dr. Norbert Middelkoop and Prof. Dr. Steven Nadler. After the lectures there will be an opportunity for questions. The event will be moderated by Marrigje Rikken, Head of Collections of the Frans Hals Museum.
Speakers
Norbert Middelkoop is Curator of Paintings, Prints and Drawings in the Amsterdam Museum and a member of CODART since its founding in 1998. He defended his PhD thesis Schutters, gildebroeders, regenten en regentessen. Het Amsterdamse corporatiestuk (Civic Guardsmen, Governors and Guild Members: the Amsterdam Corporate Group Portrait) in 2019. He is currently affiliated part time with the Frans Hals Museum working on an exhibition project. Norbert Middelkoop will talk about the Meagre Company, Hals’s only Amsterdam civic guard painting. Generously lent by the Rijksmuseum, it will be on show from 15 September onwards at the Frans Hals Museum amidst his five Haarlem civic guard paintings, offering an excellent opportunity to compare.
Steven Nadler is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy and Evjue-Bascom Professor of Humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Among his publications are Rembrandt’s Jews (2003), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Spinoza: A Life (1999), which won the Koret Jewish Book Award; and The Philosopher, the Priest and the Painter: A Portrait of Descartes (2013). He will discuss the problems, pitfalls, questions and obstacles one encounters with compiling a biography of Frans Hals.
Registration
The short lectures will be broadcasted live on Tuesday 1 September 2020, 16:00 (CEST) via Zoom. The event ends at 17:00 (CEST). Participation is free, but registration is required. To register, visit this page. After registering you will receive a link to attend the event on 1 September.