Franz Hals (1580?-1666) Dutch School of Haarlem. Family Group. National Gallery. Painted in oil on canvas. 4 ft 11 in h x 8 ft 4.5 in w. Frans Hals the Elder was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group portraiture. He is known for his loose painterly brushwork.