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Portrait of Thomas Bulwer
Gerard van Soest (Dutch, c. 1605–1681)
1654
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 101.7 × 86.7 cm (40 1/16 × 34 1/8 in.); Framed: 113.4 × 97.2 × 6.4 cm (44 5/8 × 38 1/4 × 2 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Holland
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Alexander A. McKay Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Like many Dutch artists working in late 17th-century England, Gerard Soest catered to members of the upper social classes and aristocracy. The subject of this portrait, Norfolk gentleman Thomas Bulwer, likely hired Soest because of the painter’s ability to convey a sitter’s authority with directness and simplicity. Here, Soest depicted Bulwer clutching a scroll to signal his intellectual interests and influence. Likewise, the subject’s hand poised on the chair’s armrest suggests that he is about to rise, an indication of his active nature. The inscription and date, which were uncovered during cleaning, were added in the 18th century.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
