The Smoker

Frans Hals

ca. 1623–25 · Oil on wood · European Paintings

Embraced by a smiling companion, the central figure indulges in the newfangled vice of smoking tobacco, a recent import from the New World that greatly troubled Dutch moralists. The loose brushwork on this octagonal panel—its original shape—captures the bustle of a tavern interior.

Artist

Frans Hals

Date

ca. 1623–25

Medium

Oil on wood

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1889