Portrait of Isaak Abrahamsz. Massa

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Portrait of Isaak Abrahamsz. Massa is a 1626 oil painting by Dutch artist Frans Hals. It measures 79.7 cm by 65.0 cm (31.37 in by 25.62 in) and is in the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

The sitter is Isaak (Isaac) Massa, a wealthy silk merchant who worked in Russia and was a close friend of Hals. Massa had previously appeared in Hals’s painting Isaak Abrahamsz Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, which showed his wife. He also had another Hals portrait made in 1635, now in the San Diego Museum of Art.

The 1626 portrait is inscribed with the year, but the sitter’s identity was long debated. Some thought it was a self-portrait, a view supported by Wilhelm Valentiner. Others argued it shows Massa, a point later confirmed by an engraving that carried an inscription naming Massa.

The painting is noted for its informal and lively feel. Massa leans over the back of a chair, unlike many formal portraits of the time. Hals’s brushwork is quick and free, giving Massa a candid, relaxed look. The light is even but with bold highlights on the right side of his face, while the left side sits in shadow. The scene suggests Hals’s distinctive style and his habit of finishing paintings in one sitting.

Massa made his fortune as a silk merchant in Russia and was known for his knowledge of Muscovy. The view through the window shows tall conifer trees, possibly hinting at Muscovy. The background landscape may be by Pieter de Molijn. In Massa’s hand is a sprig of holly, a symbol of friendship and constancy, and perhaps a pledge of faithfulness to his wife during his long travels.

For a long time the painting was in the Earls of Spencer’s collection. It was described in the 1822 Bibliotheca Spenceriana as hanging in a Spencer estate bedroom. In 1924 the 7th Earl Spencer sold part of the family collection to pay debts, and the Hals was bought by art dealer Joseph Duveen. Duveen sold it in 1925 to Frank P. Wood. After Wood’s death in 1955, his collection was donated to the Art Gallery of Ontario, where the portrait remains. In 1959 the painting was stolen along with five other masterworks, but the insurance company paid a ransom, and the works were recovered three weeks later from a Parkdale storage room, with only slight damage.