Retrato de Lucas de Clercq

Lucas de Clercq made his money in potash, linen yarn and bleached linen, which in the 1630s meant Haarlem. The meadows outside the city were covered in cloth laid out to whiten in the sun, Haarlem linen sold across Europe on the strength of that, and potash was what the bleachers worked with.

He and his wife were Mennonites, which is why the portrait looks so bare next to other Dutch pictures of the same years. No lace, no gold, black wool and a flat white collar. What Hals gives him instead is the pose, one arm set on the hip so the sitter takes up his space. The picture has a companion, the portrait of his wife Feyntje van Steenkiste. Their descendants gave both to the city of Amsterdam in 1891, and the pair went straight on loan to the Rijksmuseum, where they have hung ever since.