# Merrymakers at Shrovetide

**Frans Hals** (Dutch, 1582–1666)  
ca. 1616–17  
Oil on canvas  
51 3/4 x 39 1/4 in. (131.4 x 99.7 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 14.40.605. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436622).

## About this work

An elaborately dressed young woman sits at a crowded table during the boisterous days before Lent, surrounded by grinning revellers, among them two stock characters of Dutch carnival theatre, Peeckelhaeringh and Hans Wurst. The table is strewn with food and objects loaded with bawdy innuendo, and the ‘lady’ may be a young man in disguise, part of the carnival’s role reversal. Frans Hals painted this crowded, raucous scene early in his career, and its bravura brushwork already shows the lively, broken touch that made his portraits famous.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Frans Hals painted this in about 1616–17, aged about 34. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Frans Hals](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/frans-hals)

Dutch, 1582–1666; born in Antwerp; died in Haarlem

Hals was born in Antwerp but spent his whole career in Haarlem, where he became its leading portraitist. His loose, rapid brushwork, unusual for its time, gives his sitters a sense of movement and spontaneity, whether in commissioned likenesses, lively genre figures or the large group portraits of the city’s civic guards and almshouse regents. His late, darker style was little valued after his death, but painters such as Manet and Van Gogh admired him intensely.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was about 34
- Real size: about 52 × 39 in (131 × 100 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 20 × 30 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 17th century
- Subjects: Food, Bread, Happiness, Men, Women, Party, Bagpipes, Eggs
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1102.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1102/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/merrymakers-at-shrovetide-met-436622).