Robert Henri, a painter and influential art teacher, was one of the leading figures of the Ashcan School. This group of artists depicted scenes of everyday life in New York, gravitating to poor and working-class neighborhoods such as the Bowery and Greenwich Village. During the summers of 1907 and 1910, Henri worked in the Netherlands, where he became captivated with the work of Frans Hals (1580-1666), the Dutch painter known for using lively brushwork to create animated portraits. Hals made a number of pictures of laughing children, which Henri sought to emulate in his own paintings of Dutch youths. Henri described the subject of this canvas, Jopie van Slouten, as “a great, real human character to paint.” A second portrait of the boy entitled Dutch Joe can be found in the permanent collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum.
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