“Banquet of officers of the company of St. Adrian”. The large canvas strikes an unusually light, slightly chilly color, it is full of silvery daylight and air. This transparent, flickering environment penetrating into all corners gives rise to the finest picturesque beauty of the picture. She also gives her a rare vividness of life. Standing in front of the picture, the viewer enjoys both the naturalness and the special beauty of the radiance that does not depend on our household associations. In this radiance, black suits, white foam of collars and cuffs, bright stripes of scarves and banners are clearly highlighted.
Very unusual composition of the picture. In the foreground sideways to the spectator and back to each other, Khals lands two captains; in the shrouded by their scarves, a third captain of the company is seen, sitting on the opposite side of the table in front of a dish with shrimps. From these figures, groups of seated and standing shooters crowd in both directions, while the center occupied by the covered table is relieved, released from the figures, but “filled” with light and air. The problem of transferring the atmosphere in the interior later occupied many Dutch painters. Hals solves this task more intuitively than later masters who rationally accurately distribute the effects, skillfully calculate the strength of light in a particular room. He is carried away and joyfully excited by the delicate beauty of daytime scattered light that he revealed.
(2 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)