Portrait of a Man, Possibly an Architect or Geographer
Peter Paul Rubens
1597 · Oil on copper · European Paintings
Thought to be Rubens’s earliest dated work, this oil on copper is one of the few known paintings by the artist completed before his departure from Antwerp for Italy in 1600 and attests to his sensitivity as a portraitist. The unknown gentleman holds a watch, an architect’s or draftsman’s square and a pair of dividers, a drafting tool. These may reference his profession, but the encased timepiece is a conventional allusion to mortality.
- Artist
- Peter Paul Rubens
- Date
- 1597
- Medium
- Oil on copper
- Department
- European Paintings
- Credit line
- The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982
