Portret van Hieronymus Scholiers op dertigjarige leeftijd. NL-HlmNHA 1477 53008541

The subject is depicted in a three-quarter view, wearing a meticulously rendered pleated ruff and a dark, buttoned doublet. He is framed within an oval border containing a Latin motto and details of his age and the date. The background features fine cross-hatching characteristic of the artist's emerging virtuosic style.

Hendrick Goltzius was the leading figure of the Haarlem Mannerists, a group whose work often intertwined technical mastery with humanist and moralizing themes. The inscription 'Bene agere et nil timere' (To do well and fear nothing) reflects the Stoic-influenced personal ethics common among the Dutch merchant class and intellectual circles of the late sixteenth century.