Porträt des Willem Coymans

The inscription on this portrait tells you the man is 22 and the year is 1645. He is Willem Coymans, from a rich merchant family in Haarlem, and he clearly enjoyed his money. He wears an embroidered jacket and a cocked hat, one arm slung over the back of his chair with the ease of a young man who has nothing to prove. Behind him is a small coat of arms showing three cows' heads, a joke on the family name, which sounds like the Dutch for cow man. Frans Hals could suggest all that swagger with startlingly few strokes. Look closely at the gold embroidery on the sleeve and it dissolves into quick dashes of paint that only pull into thread and cloth when you step back.