The Gypsy Girl

Frans Hals’s The Gypsy Girl, painted in the late 1620s, shows a young woman with tousled hair and an unbuttoned bodice turning to the viewer with a sly, confident smile. The painting is remarkable for the freedom of its handling — Hals laid in the face and hair with rapid, visible brushstrokes that seem to move before the eyes. It is one of the liveliest and most beloved portraits of the Dutch Golden Age, capturing a moment of irrepressible life.