Portrait of a young man with a skull

Frans Hals presents a young man in three-quarter view, wrapped in a dark cloak and wearing a red hat with a long pink feather. He holds a skull in his left hand and extends his right hand toward the viewer, his face illuminated against a neutral brown background with warm flesh tones and pink cheeks. The painting displays Hals's confident, painterly brushwork and naturalistic modeling, combining lively portraiture with a vanitas or memento mori theme.