Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman

Haarlem in 1634 was at war with Spain, 14 years from the peace that would finally recognise the Dutch Republic, and growing richer the whole time. Its bleaching fields had a European reputation for whitening linen, and Tieleman Roosterman, 36 years old here, was a cloth merchant. Hals painted him in his own trade, a black suit with braid and buttons running down the sleeve, a broad linen collar, and cuffs edged with lace. Roosterman had married Catharina Brugman three years earlier, and this was probably ordered as a pair with her portrait, painted the same year. The two canvases are no longer together. Hers is in a private collection, and his has hung in the Cleveland Museum of Art since 1999.