Portrait of Jan van de Poll

What you see

Jan van de Poll sits sideways on a chair, one arm resting on its back, and twists his body and head to look at us, as if he had just turned around. He has tousled brown hair, a mustache and a reddish goatee. He wears a black doublet with a puffed white sleeve and a large lace collar that covers his shoulders.

The plain ochre background is lit from the left and shows the man’s shadow on the right. The brushwork is quick and visible: in the hair, the lace and the sleeve, the strokes can be picked out one by one. Don’t miss the hand gripping the edge of the chair back, the turned spindles of the chair at lower left and the glow on his cheeks.