# Portrait of a Man

- By: Sébastien Bourdon (French, 1616–1671)
- Date: 1657–58
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 104.2 × 88.1 cm (41 1/16 × 34 11/16 in.); Framed: 125.8 × 114.3 × 10.2 cm (49 1/2 × 45 × 4 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/49422)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/d929015e8764d6c786c1c0b35e3ad81f.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This portrait, at once elegant and direct, may be a remnant of a larger painting of the consuls, or civic administrators, of Montpellier, Sébastien Bourdon’s native city in the south of France. Bourdon returned there briefly in the midst of a career that included early years in Rome, successful activity in Paris, and a short stint at the Stockholm court of Queen Christina of Sweden from 1652 to 1653. The large, isolated swath of fabric on the left and the absence of the sitter’s left hand suggest that it was cut from Bourdon’s group portrait.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0