Yonker Ramp and his sweetheart  1623

The 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 ear...