Portrait of Lucas de Clercq

A prosperous merchant is shown at three-quarter length in a broad black hat and a plain, expensive collar, his face and hands lit against a restrained dark ground. Painted around 1635, this portrait of the Amsterdam merchant Lucas de Clercq is one of the most accomplished works of Frans Hals’s maturity, a period in which he moved from the broad bravura of his youth to a more sober and penetrating realism. The bold, visible brushwork of the costume and features gives the sitter a remarkable sense of life, and makes the portrait a fine example of the brisk personal style that set Hals apart from every rival portraitist of his day.