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TOLEDO -- The Toledo Museum of Art is once again showing why it's one of the best in the country.  The museum has acquired a painting by 17th century Dutch master Frans Hals.

The 60 inch by 64 inch painting called "Family Portrait in a Landscape" features a cloth merchant and his family.  The museum will not say how much it paid for the painting but does say it was nowhere near record.

"This painting is a tremendous addition to our collection of European paintings," said TMA Director Brian Kennedy. "It is one of only four known family portraits by Hals to have survived and is the earliest of the four. Its strong composition and the way Hals captures the personalities and personal interactions of the family members will delight our visitors."

The highest record auction price for a Hals piece was $14 million in 2008.

The artwork will be on public display starting October 13,2011. It will take its place in the Great Gallery near Rubens's The Crowning of St. Catherine and Guercino's Lot and His Daughters, the Museum's most recent Old Master acquisition, which came into the collection in 2009.

For more information on artist Frans Hals click here.