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Frans Hals
1580/85, Antwerp, Belgium – 1 September 1666, Haarlem, the Netherlands
Frans Hals was born in Antwerp to Flemish parents who fled to the Netherlands after the city fell into Spanish hands in 1585. His parents settled in Haarlem in 1591 and lived there for the rest of their lives.
Frans married twice, had at least ten children and was constantly in financial difficulties. During the final years of his life he was completely destitute, but the municipal authorities of Haarlem granted him a small annual stipend four years before his death.
He is regarded as one of the most brilliant portrait painters.
♦ Malle Babbe (1640) ♦
A woman with a sly smile, an owl on her shoulder and a tin can. The woman has been identified as Malle Babbe from the leper colony in Haarlem.
♦ Diagnosis
Main symptoms: Uncontrollable, leering laughter; confined to a leper colony.
Secondary symptoms: An owl on the shoulder; a tin beer or wine jug.
Clinical diagnosis: Insanity.
♦ Definition: insanity
A general term for a mental disorder or confusion. In official medical terminology, insanity refers to a serious mental disorder which renders the patient either incapable of managing their own affairs and fulfilling their social obligations, or a danger to themselves or others.
♦ Discussion
The significance of the owl on Malle Babbe’s shoulder can be interpreted in various ways.
For the Greeks, the owl was a symbol of wisdom because it could see in the dark. In Dutch, we have several sayings such as
‘as stupid as an owl (or an owl’s chick)’ or ‘the nightingale must give way to the owl’, and in English there is also the saying ‘as drunk as an owl’.
Malle Babbe was also known at the time as ‘the witch of Haarlem’.
In any case, she did not suffer from leprosy, even though she was admitted to the leper colony. At that time, leprosy was virtually non-existent in the Netherlands, but the colony was used to house people who could no longer look after themselves.
Source: Jan Dequeker