Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685). Dutch School of Haarlem. The Alchymist. National Gallery. Signed and dated 1601 on a wooden shovel which hangs on the wall Painted in oil on wood. 1 ft 1.5 in h x 1 ft 5.2 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.