Second To Mona Lisa’s Smile- The Cavalier’s Laughter

Apart from the ‘Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo da Vinci, ‘The Laughing Cavalier’ is probably the most famous portrait in the world. This painting earned its fame at a much later period. It was painted in 1624 by Frans Hals, one of the greatest portraitists in the seventeenth century. Its familiar but the inaccurate title (the cavalier is smiling rather than laughing), now inseparable from the work, did not appear till 1888. The title was certainly a Victorian era invention. When the painting was acquired in 1865 by Richard Wallace’s father, it was called ‘Portrait of a Young Man’. However the young man in the painting is still unknown. There is no record available now. Nowhere Hals recorded his name. At the top right corner of the portrait it is inscribed "Æ'TA SVÆ 26/A°1624", which imply that the ‘young man’ was 26 in the year 1624 when Hals made his portrait. This portrait is spontaneous, and it reflects the brilliance of Hals as a portraitist. Like his other portraits, this ‘Laughing Cavalier’ shows his power in depicting smiles and laughter so convincingly. The sitters in his painting usually seem to enjoy life. This ‘Laughing Cavalier’ is certainly the best example. In the eighteenth century print, this painting fetched a modest price at auction. But in 1865 it was auctioned at 51000 francs, a mind boggling sum that heralded the great boom in the popularity of the painting. ‘The Laughing Cavalier’ is now in the Wallace Collection, London.