Judith Leyster was mistaken for Frans Hals and not rediscovered until the ... Molenaer’s 1637-1638 self-portrait playing a lute, also in the National Gallery, is impossible not to take seriously.

The artist was Frans Hals ... study of a child playing the flute, the subject gazes out of frame, ignoring the viewer entirely; so does a jester playing the lute (pictured). Hals could create ...

The Dutch Old Master Frans Hals is renowned for capturing the expressions of his sitters, whether the cheeky sideways glance of a lute player or a smirking “cavalier”. But who was the man ...