''Malle Babbe'' is a painting by the

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) 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 ...

, painted ''c.'' 1633-1635, and now in the Gemäldegalerie, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The painting has also been titled as ''Hille Bobbe'' or the ''Witch of Haarlem''. It was traditionally interpreted as a

tronie A tronie is a type of work common in Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish Baroque painting that depicts an exaggerated or characteristic facial expression. These works were not intended as portraits but as studies of expression, type, physiognom ...

, or

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

in a portrait format, depicting a mythic witch-figure. The painting is now often identified as a genre-style portrait of a specific individual from

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, known as Malle (meaning "crazy") Babbe, who may have been an

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

or suffered from a mental illness. The painting has been an object of artistic admiration from Hals's lifetime, as there are several copies and variants painted by his followers. It was admired by

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

, who made a copy of it in 1869 while it was on view in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Painting

The painting is an oil on canvas measuring 75 × 64 cm and shows the face of a smiling woman, sitting at the corner of a table, apparently talking or laughing at someone or something to the right of the canvas. With her right hand, the woman is gripping a

pewter Pewter () is a malleable metal alloy consisting of tin (85–99%), antimony (approximately 5–10%), copper (2%), bismuth, and sometimes silver. Copper and antimony (and in antiquity lead) act as hardeners, but lead may be used in lower grades of ...

beer mug with an opened lid. An

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

sits on the woman's left shoulder. The clothing of the woman is simple and corresponds with the mode around 1630 in Haarlem. Her face is animated in an almost manic grimace. The very free handling of paint is typical of Hals' style, and not very different from that on his more formal commissioned portraits.

Name

The painting was for a long time mislabelled as ''Retarded Man' (alternatively ''The Witch of Haarlem'') through a misreading of the inscription on the back of the picture frame which in fact reads ''Malle Babbe van Haerlem … Fr s Hals'' (Malle Babbe of Haarlem). Under the witch interpretation, the owl was considered a possible

familiar In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (sometimes referred to as familiar spirits) were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. According to r ...

. However the subject matter of Frans Hals in his other paintings would suggest that the painting is probably of a pub scene, in which case the owl would reflect the Dutch proverb, "drunk as an owl."

The real Malle Babbe

Research in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

municipality of

showed that a real Malle Babbe actually existed, named Barbara Claes. She was included in a list of residents of the local hospital called

Het Dolhuys Het Dolhuys( meaning in English: "The crazy house") is a national museum for psychiatry in Haarlem, Netherlands. The museum was founded in 2005 in the newly renovated former old age home known as ''Schoterburcht'', located just across the Schot ...

, situated outside the city walls, which served people who were dangerous to themselves or to society, as well as a hospice for travellers arriving after the city gates had closed. Around 1642, Pieter Hals, a son of Frans Hals, was also in this hospice. Hals and this Malle Babbe had probably already met by this time, as she was evidently a known personality in Haarlem, although none other of her biographical details survive except that she died in 1663. In Dutch the adjective "Malle" signifies "loony" and it is not uncommon to see painters or writers depict this type of village figure. In this type of depiction one can find a record of unbalanced figures of society as belonging to the scenery of everyday life, or the artist may enjoy exploring the thin line between sanity and lunacy.

Other paintings

Umkreis Frans Hals New Yorker Malle Babbe

The

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

is in possession of a similar painting. It is not clear who the creator of this painting is. In the past it was also attributed to Frans Hals, but it is now thought to be the work of one of his pupils. Another variant depicts Malle Babbe accompanied by a male drinker. There are two paintings of unknown authorship in which she is depicted with a male figure adapted from a work by

Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Brouwer (, in Oudenaarde – January 1638, in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter active in Flanders and the Dutch Republic in the first half of the 17th century.

. Both figures are depicted behind a table full of fish. There are also two portraits apparently depicting Babbe, but without the owl.

Han van Meegeren Henricus Antonius "Han" van Meegeren (; 10 October 1889 – 30 December 1947) was a Dutch painter and portraitist, considered one of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century. Van Meegeren became a national hero after World War II when ...

created a version of the subject in the style of

Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...

which is now being exhibited in the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

Song

In the Netherlands, the painting also gave its name to a well-known song, written by Boudewijn de Groot and

Lennaert Nijgh Lennaert Herman Nijgh (January 25, 1945 in Haarlem – November 28, 2002 in Haarlem) was a Dutch lyricist. Nijgh was most commonly known as the lyricist for Boudewijn de Groot. Biography Nijgh was an only child and grew up in Heemstede. He w ...

and first performed in 1973 by

Rob de Nijs Rob de Nijs (born 26 December 1942) is a Dutch singer and actor, active since the 1960s. Biography 1962–1968 De Nijs, backed by The Lords, won a talent-contest in 1962 and released his first single in 1962, " Ritme van de Regen". In 1965 D ...

. The actual subject of the song "Malle Babbe" however was inspired by another painting by Frans Hals, '' The Gypsy Girl'', depicting a busty young woman, possibly a prostitute.Peter Voskuil: ''Testament. Leven en werk van Lennaert Nijgh'', Kats, 2007, The song celebrates her lusty sexuality. However, it also refers to her having frothy beer in a tavern, the setting for ''Malle Babbe'', not ''The Gypsy Girl''. Both pictures were seen by Nijgh in a 1962 exhibition.

References

{{Authority control Paintings by Frans Hals Portraits of women 1630s paintings Paintings in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin Birds in art Food and drink paintings