Portrait of a Boy, said to be the artist's son, aged 8

This 1652 portrait of a boy, said to be the artist's son aged eight, combines the formal conventions of child portraiture with the intimacy of paternal observation. If the identification is correct, this is one of the few works in Bol's oeuvre with direct autobiographical content—the artist recording his own child with the same professional skill he deployed for paying clients. Child portraits in Dutch Golden Age painting occupied a specific niche: more informal than adult portraits, they emphasized the child's individual personality and the family's investment in future generations. The specific age notation—'aged eight'—was a convention for recording children's portraits at significant birthdays.

The boy is rendered with tender attention to youthful features and expression, Bol's technique combining the warmth of his Rembrandtesque training with the refined finish appropriate to a portrait of his own child.