Portrait of a Man, Probably from the Pauw Family

Unknown artist

1625

oil on panel

Rijksmuseum

A man with a goatee and a white ruffled collar stands with his left hand resting on a table and his right hand holding gloves. He wears a dark, patterned doublet and cloak. This is an archetypal image of an affluent Dutch citizen at the beginning of the 17th century: confident – even a touch pompous – and fashionably dressed, but without undue excess. Although the sitter’s identity is unknown, he was probably a member of the fabulously wealthy Pauw family of Amsterdam merchants. The picture is still in its original black painted and parcel-gilt oak frame.