Tieleman Roosterman

On July 10, 1999...

The Cleveland Museum of Art emerged as the buyer of the most prized painting in the blockbuster sale of Rothschild family treasures: a Frans Hals portrait of a stern-faced Amsterdam merchant (Tieleman Roosterman) that sold for $12.8 million, a record for a Frans Hals work up to 1999.

The sale was conducted by Christies for the Rothschild family. This work of art along with hundreds of others were seized by the Nazis, just prior to the start of the Second World War. They were hidden in salt mines.

Before the auction, Christie's Old Masters specialist Alexander Hope said: "Hals is a master of characterisation. For this painting to come onto the market like this is extraordinary."

The painting 'Portrait of a Man' by Frans Hals sold for $48,000

'Very cheap' i hear you say? Except that it was at the Plaza Hotel in the United States and it was January 1928!

It was the biggest sale of the night. $48,000 was a small fortune then.

'Portrait of a Man' is pictured to the left, top left picture from the block of 4.

At Sotheby's in December 2007 London dealer Johnny Van Haeften bought a rare portrait by Frans Hals, for which he had to pay £4.7 million, three times the estimate. I am trying to establish which one!

The painting top right in the block of 4 is called: 'Peeckelhaering'

The painting bottom left is called: 'Shrovetide Revellers'

The painting bottom right is called: 'The Rommel Pot Player'