Paulus Verschuur (1606–1667)

This portrait of the Rotterdam merchant Paulus Verschuur, with one arm akimbo and a voluminous cloak wrapped around his midsection, displays all the swagger that made Hals a sought-after and influential portraitist. The artist’s signature rough brushwork, visible for example in the lace and glove, fell out of fashion in his own lifetime, but eventually exerted a great influence on Impressionist artists of the nineteenth century.