Quinn, James (1870-1951; Australian), after Hals, Frans (1582-1666; Dutch)
The Gipsy (La Bohémienne) (c.1895)
Oil on canvas, 55.4 x 45.2 cm
Presented by the artist, 1895
National Gallery of Victoria (9-2)
This is one of the copies made by Quinn while studying in Paris after winning the NGV Travelling Scholarship in 1893 (refer linked artist entry).
Here – unsurprisingly – he struggled to match the vivacity of Hals’ brushwork, and the woman’s features appear coarser than in the original (painted in about 1630 and bequeathed to the Louvre in 1869). There is some paint cracking in the lower section of Quinn’s picture.
Refs.
AR 1895, p.27; NGV 1905, p.142 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 6th bay, no.17)
For Hals’ original painting, see http://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/la-bohemienne (M.I.926; bequest of Dr Louis La Caze, 1869)