Laughing Boy with Flute Laughing Boy with Flute Laughing Boy with a Flute is a painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, painted in the early 1620s. This painting was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1910, who wrote "31. A LAUGHING BOY WITH A FLUTE. M. 240. Half-length, in profile to the left. The head is three-quarters left. The long hair falls in disorder. The lips are parted, showing the teeth. On the left the flute is held upright in the right hand. The eyes look to the left and slightly upward. Lifelike colour in the face. Circular panel, n| inches
Laughing Cavalier considerable part in raising the critical estimation of Hals in England. By 1888, when it was again exhibited at the Royal Academy, it had become "Laughing Cavalier", though a cleaning in the intervening period (in 1884) may have changed the effect. The critic in the Athenaeum noted a brighter appearance, but also that "The man smiles rather than laughs". Hertford's collection was bequeathed to his natural son Sir Richard Wallace Bt., whose widow donated it and his London house to the nation as the Wallace Collection. The "Laughing Cavalier" is used by McEwan's beer as its logo. It has been