Frans Hals began painting religious subjects, but as the former fell out of style during his life, he switched to portraiture. Many liked his style and he was a busy artist for most of his life.He was fond of daylight and silvery sheen. What nature displayed in that moment he reproduced thoroughly in a delicate scale of color, and with mastery over every form of expression. He became so clever that exact tone, light and shade, and modeling were obtained with a few marked and fluid strokes of the brush. In a few works, he set upon the canvas the fleeting aspect of the various stages of merriment, seizing, with rare intuition, a moment in the life of his subjects.
This is vividly depicted in this painting. The smiling little musician seems to ask the viewer to wait as he finishes singing from a little hymnal.
