Frans Hals the Elder (/hɑːls/; Dutch: [ɦɑls]; c. 1582 – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter who lived and worked in Haarlem. He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and he helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group portraiture.