Bartholomeus van der Helst: Colf playing boy near the coast (1658)

This painting is attributed to Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670).

It shows a boy portrait of a happy, lavishly dressed boy (all boys were depicted in beautiful dresses at the time), who plays colf by the coast and is about to hit a ball with a colf stick.

In the past, this painting was known for a long time as a portrait of King-Stadholder William III as a child (8 years old) and attributed to Albert Cuyp (1620-1691).

The bows on the sleeves (an orange bow and one with the red-white-blue) do point in that direction.