1611, Frans Hals, Portrait of Jacobus Zaffius -- Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem)
From the museum label: This is the earliest dated portrait by Frans Hals, who was 29 when he painted it. The loose brushwork which was to make him world famous is already evident in the fur collar. The sitter is Jacobus Zaffius, the highest-ranking Catholic priest in Haarlem. This was a Protestant city, but Catholicism was tolerated. So, Zaffius could fulfil his ministry, although no longer in what had once been his own St Bavo church - that was now a Protestant bulwark.
1611, Frans Hals, Portrait of Jacobus Zaffius -- Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem)
From the museum label: This is the earliest dated portrait by Frans Hals, who was 29 when he painted it. The loose brushwork which was to make him world famous is already evident in the fur collar. The sitter is Jacobus Zaffius, the highest-ranking Catholic priest in Haarlem. This was a Protestant city, but Catholicism was tolerated. So, Zaffius could fulfil his ministry, although no longer in what had once been his own St Bavo church - that was now a Protestant bulwark.