Portrait of Andries Pels (1631-81)

The painting utilizes chiaroscuro, a strong contrast between light and dark, to draw attention to Pels' face. Notably, the work is executed on tin, an unconventional medium for portraiture, with a predominantly muted color palette, including a distinctive greenish skin tone and soft white neck cloth.

Created in 1716 by Arnoud van Halen, the portrait is currently part of the Rijksmuseum's collection in the Netherlands.

While the use of chiaroscuro was common in 17th and 18th-century European art to create depth and emphasis, the choice of tin as the painting's substrate was atypical for portraits of this era, distinguishing it from more traditional canvas or wood panel works.

The portrait's legacy lies in its technical curiosity (tin medium) and its representation of a lesser-known figure, Andries Pels, offering a glimpse into 18th-century Dutch portraiture practices and the artistic experiments of the time.