Portrait of Tyman Oosdorp

Frans Hals's Portrait of Tyman Oosdorp of around 1656 depicts a member of the Oosdorp family, Haarlem citizens whose commercial and civic activity placed them within the portrait-commissioning class. The late portrait demonstrates Hals's economy of means at its most concentrated — the dark background barely differentiated from the dark costume, the face the single point of chromatic and psychological concentration. The painting belongs to the group of late works in which his technique approached the extreme directness that would influence subsequent painting for centuries.

The late portrait demonstrates Hals's most austere and powerful manner, the face emerging from deep darkness painted in broad, almost savage strokes. The technique — which contemporaries may have seen as evidence of failing powers — is now recognized as one of the most radical achievements in the history of painting.