Young Man and Woman in an Inn ("Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart") | Frans Hals | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Signed and dated (right, above fireplace): FHALS [initials in monogram] 1623

Gallery LabelThe traditional title dates from the eighteenth century and is based upon a mistaken identification with Pieter Ramp, who appears in a group portrait of about 1627 by Hals. The figures here are a young man and his new acquaintance at the doorway of an inn. The dog suggests not fidelity but spontaneous affection. This canvas, Hals's only known dated genre scene, recalls earlier Netherlandish images of the Prodigal Son but is probably not intended as a representation of the biblical parable. Hals, his brother Dirck (1591–1656), and other Haarlem artists treated the theme of frivolous youth in remarkably various ways.

NotesThe earliest known appearance of the title "Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart" is in the Enschede sale of 1786, and is based on the mistaken identification of the man in this painting with Pieter Ramp, who is included in Hals's "Banquet of the Saint Hadrian's Militia Company" (Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem).

Valentiner [see Ref. 1923] suggests that the picture illustrates the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son and tentatively connects the painting with a work of that subject mentioned in documents of 1646 and 1647. Both Slive [see Ref. 1970] and Blankert [see Ref. 1980] find this idea convincing.

There is a smaller (27.3 x 22.9 cm) version of this work, a copy by another hand, that was in the collection of J. P. Heseltine, London, in 1908, and in the collection of Bernard C. Solomon, Los Angeles, in 1974.

Provenance?Cornelia Lemens, Amsterdam (until 1646); ?Martin van de Broecke, Amsterdam (until 1647; traded with jewelry and other paintings to Ackersloot); ?Andries Ackersloot, Amsterdam (from 1647); Johannes Enschede, Haarlem (until 1786; his sale, Haarlem, May 30, 1786, no. 87, as "Jonker Ramp en zyn Matres," for fl. 21.10); Johan Adriaen Versijden van Varick, Leyden (until 1791; his sale, Leyden, October 29, 1791, no. 103, for fl. 130 to Delfos); C. J. G. Copes van Hasselt and Mme Copes van Hasselt-Delange, Haarlem (until 1880; their sale, Amsterdam, April 20, 1880, no. 1, as "[Leve de Trouw]: Le Chevalier Ramp et sa Maîtresse"); comte Edmond de Pourtalès, Paris (in 1883); [Gimpel & Wildenstein, Paris and New York, until 1905; sold for $155,840 to Altman]; Benjamin Altman, New York (1905–d. 1913)

Exhibition History

Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Cent chefs-d'œuvre des collections parisiennes," June 12, 1883–?, no. 90.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 120.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.

References

C. J. Gonnet. "Jonker Ramp en zijn matres." Nederlandsche kunstbode, beeldende kunst, oudheidkunde, kunstnijverheid 2 (1880), pp. 78–79.

Nederlandsche kunstbode, beeldende kunst, oudheidkunde, kunstnijverheid 2 (1880), pp. 125–26, 135.

Arthur Baignères. "À propos de l'exposition des cent chefs-d'œuvre des collections parisiennes." Gazette des beaux-arts, 2nd ser., 28 (August 1883), ill. opp. p. 122 (etching by H. Guérard).

Wilhelm [von] Bode. Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei. Braunschweig, 1883, pp. 49–51, 81, no. 13.

Albert Wolff. Cent chefs-d'œuvre des collections parisiennes. Exh. cat., Galerie Georges Petit. Paris, [1883], p. 112, no. 90, ill. opp. p. 88 (etching).

W[ilhelm]. [von] Bode. "Ein Frühwerk von Frans Hals." Der Cicerone 1, no. 4 (1909), p. 129.

Kurt Erasmus. "Ein Frühwerk von Frans Hals." Der Cicerone 1, no. 2 (1909), p. 51.

E[rnst]. W[ilhelm]. Moes. Frans Hals, sa vie et son œuvre. Brussels, 1909, pp. 25, 109, no. 209.

Cornelis Hofstede de Groot. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 3, London, 1910, p. 9, nos. 1–2, pp. 41–42, no. 139.

William Bode. "More Spurious Pictures Abroad Than in America." New York Times (December 31, 1911), p. SM4.

H. Mireur. Dictionnaire des ventes d'art . . . 3, Paris, 1911, p. 406.

Handbook of the Benjamin Altman Collection. New York, 1914, pp. 31–32, under no. 21, pp. 34–35, no. 23, ill. opp. p. 34.

with an essay by M. J. Binder in Frans Hals, His Life and Work. Berlin, 1914, vol. 1, p. 25, no. 2, pl. 2A.

"The Altman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum, New York." Art and Progress 6 (January 1915), p. 79, ill.

François Monod. "La Galerie Altman au Metropolitan Museum de New-York (2e article)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 5th ser., 8 (November 1923), pp. 300–301.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Frans Hals, des meisters Gemälde. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1923, p. 307, ill. p. 23.

Georg Poensgen. "Beiträge zur Kunst des Willem Buytewech." Jahrbuch der preuszischen Kunstsammlungen 47 (1926), p. 99 n. 3.

Handbook of the Benjamin Altman Collection. 2nd ed. New York, 1928, pp. 62–64, no. 29, pp. 90–91, under no. 50, ill. opp. p. 62.

C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. "Frans Hals as a Genre Painter." Art News 26 (April 14, 1928), p. 45.

Franz Dülberg. Frans Hals: Ein Leben und ein Werk. Stuttgart, 1930, pp. 52, 54–57, pl. 14.

W[ilhelm]. R. Valentiner. Frans Hals Paintings in America. Westport, Conn., 1936, p. 9, no. 4, ill. [cat. section unpaginated].

N. S. Trivas. The Paintings of Frans Hals. New York, 1941, p. 61, no. App. 2, pl. 153.

Millia Davenport. The Book of Costume. New York, 1948, vol. 2, p. 611, no. 1611, ill. p. 612 (cropped).

Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 229, no. 120, colorpl. 120.

M. L. D'Otrange-Mastai. "'Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart': Two Frans Hals Versions in America." Connoisseur 137 (April 1956), pp. 114–15, ill.

Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1959, unpaginated, no. 37, ill. (color).

Jakob Rosenberg and Seymour Slive in Dutch Art and Architecture: 1600 to 1800. Baltimore, 1966, p. 36, pl. 12A.

Francis Haskell. "The Benjamin Altman Bequest." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), p. 262.

Seymour Slive. "Text." Frans Hals. 1, London, 1970, pp. 72–76, 80, 100, 141.

Seymour Slive. "Plates." Frans Hals. 2, London, 1970, pl. 42.

Claus Grimm. Frans Hals: Entwicklung, Werkanalyse, Gesamtkatalog. Berlin, 1972, pp. 29, 49–50, 52–56, 62–64, 66, 197, 200, no. A5, fig. 25 (detail).

Eduard Plietzsch. Holländische und flämische Maler des XVII. Jahrh. 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1972, pp. 23, 26.

Jakob Rosenberg and Seymour Slive in Dutch Art and Architecture: 1600 to 1800. rev. ed. Harmondsworth, England, 1972, pp. 55, 57, fig. 24.

E. C. Montagni in L'opera completa di Frans Hals. Milan, 1974, p. 89, under no. 24, fig. 24a.

Seymour Slive. "Catalogue." Frans Hals. 3, London, 1974, pp. 13–14, 115, no. 20.

Herbert Wiesner. Master Painters of Holland: Dutch Painting in the Seventeenth Century. New York, 1976, p. 6, pl. 10.

Albert Blankert. "Classicism in Dutch Painting, 1614–1670." Gods, Saints & Heroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1980, p. 189 n. 8.

Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, pp. 318, 332, fig. 571 (color).

H. P. Baard. Frans Hals. New York, 1981, fig. 58.

Otto Naumann. Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder. Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1981, vol. 1, p. 21 n. 7.

Frima Fox Hofrichter. Haarlem: The Seventeenth Century. Exh. cat., Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum. [New Brunswick, N.J.], 1983, p. 41, fig. 16.

Barbara Haeger. "Frans Hals' so-called 'Jonker Ramp and his Sweetheart' Reconsidered." Konsthistorisk Tidskrift 55 (1986), pp. 141–48, fig. 1.

Peter C. Sutton. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1986, p. 185, fig. 262.

Jacques Foucart in Musée du Louvre: Nouvelles acquisitions du Département des Peintures (1983–1986). Paris, 1987, p. 80, ill. p. 79.

Walter A. Liedtke in "Toward a History of Dutch Genre Painting II: The South Holland Tradition." The Age of Rembrandt: Studies in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting. [University Park, Pa.], 1988, p. 100.

Seymour Slive in Frans Hals. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. London, 1989, pp. 1, 129, 197, colorpl. III.

Irene van Thiel-Stroman in Frans Hals. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. London, 1989, p. 399, doc. 115, p. 400, doc. 119.

Claus Grimm. Frans Hals: The Complete Work. New York, 1990, pp. 51–52, 56, 223–24, 237, 291–92, no. C4, colorpls. 74b, 75, 78b (overall and details) [German ed., "Frans Hals: Das Gesamtwerk," Stuttgart, 1989, pp. 51–52, 56, 224, 237, 284–85, no. K4, colorpls. 74b, 75, 78b (overall and details)].

Walter Liedtke. "Dutch Paintings in America: The Collectors and Their Ideals." Great Dutch Paintings from America. Exh. cat., Mauritshuis, The Hague. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1990, p. 48.

Peter [C.] Sutton. "Washington and London: Frans Hals." Burlington Magazine 132 (January 1990), pp. 67, 70.

Peter C. Sutton. Dutch & Flemish Seventeenth-Century Paintings: The Harold Samuel Collection. Cambridge, 1992, pp. 74, 76 n. 1, fig. 1.

Cynthia Kortenhorst-von Bogendorf Rupprath in Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master and Her World. Exh. cat., Worcester Art Museum. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1993, p. 155 n. 14, p. 246, fig. 21a.

Christiane Stukenbrock Universität Köln. Frans Hals—Fröhliche Kinder, Musikanten und Zecher: Eine Studie zu ausgewählten Motivgruppen und deren Rezeptionsgeschichte. Frankfurt am Main, 1993, p. 140, fig. 39.

Seymour Slive. Dutch Painting 1600–1800. New Haven, 1995, pp. 36–38, 43, 63, fig. 34.

Ingeborg Worm in The Dictionary of Art. 14, New York, 1996, p. 91.

Rüdiger Klessmann. Johann Liss: A Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné. Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1999, p. 26, fig. 7.

Wayne Franits. Dutch Seventeenth-Century Genre Painting: Its Stylistic and Thematic Evolution. New Haven, 2004, pp. 24–25, 263 n. 23, fig. 10 (color).

Gregory Martin in A House of Art: Rubens as Collector. Exh. cat., Rubenshuis, Antwerp. Schoten, Belgium, 2004, p. 204, fig. 43a.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. ix, 256 n. 3, pp. 260–66, no. 59, colorpl. 59; vol. 2, p. 873 n. 20.

Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), pp. 30, 32, 35, 70, fig. 30 (color).

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