Flinck was one of Rembrandt’s best early disciples in the painting of tronies. Over time, many of these have been attributed to various students of Rembrandt, as well as some, to Rembrandt himself.

Flinck has emerged as a focused painter of portraits of children. The previous owner of Portrait of a Young Boy in Exotic Costume regarded it as an ‘almost but not quite’ Rembrandt and therefore found it as such of little further concern. A Rembrandt it may not be, but a fine Flinck painting it is.