Laughing Cavalier

A young man poses with one hand on his hip, chin lifted, his magnificent slashed and embroidered sleeve thrust toward us, an upturned mustache and the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. Despite the famous name, he is neither laughing nor a cavalier - simply a supremely self-assured sitter, rendered by Frans Hals with dazzling bravura, the lace and gold thread flicked on in bold, confident strokes. Now in the Wallace Collection in London, the portrait radiates swagger and life, the sitter's amused, knowing gaze meeting ours across four centuries.