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Portrait of a Gentleman
Caspar Netscher (Dutch, 1639-1684)
1680
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 47 × 38.1 cm (18 1/2 × 15 in.); Framed: 64.8 × 56.5 × 6.4 cm (25 1/2 × 22 1/4 × 2 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Holland
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
- 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
In the nascent Dutch Republic, portraits emphasized the prestige of the increasingly prosperous middle and upper classes. The hilt of the sword on the table suggests that this gentleman held a position in the military, perhaps one with an administrative or legal component, as indicated by the statue in the background of the Roman goddess Justitia, with her scales and sword. The man’s success is demonstrated not only by this large sculpture but also by the golden cloak he wears. Such luxury garments were imported from Japan at mid-century, but this fashionable, brocaded version was likely made domestically. Caspar Netscher, one of the great small-scale Dutch portraitists, would have made this painting for display in a home.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
