The Laughing Cavalier
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Name given to the famous portrait of an unknown gallant, by the Dutch painter Franz Hals, now in the Wallace Collection, London.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The Laughing Cavalier” mean?
Name given to the famous portrait of an unknown gallant, by the Dutch painter Franz Hals, now in the Wallace Collection, London.
Is “The Laughing Cavalier” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.