Portrait of a Gentleman with a Tall Hat and Gloves

Rembrandt van Rijn

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the hips up, a man with pale, peachy skin, dressed in a black suit and tall hat, looks at us from in front of a dark brown background in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s body is angled to our right, almost in profile, but he turns his head to look at us from the corners of his eyes under lifted brows. He has rounded nose, a thin mustache over wide, pink lips, and a deep cleft in his chin. His face is fleshy under his eyes and along his jawline, and he has a slight double chin. The wide brim of his tall black hat casts a shadow across his eyes. Shoulder-length, brown, curly hair falls on a wide, lace-edged bright white collar, which lies flat across his chest and shoulders. Light glints off his black jacket, suggesting a sheen. Wide white, disk-like cuffs encircle his wrists over puffs of voluminous white sleeves that gather on his forearms. A black, velvety cape drapes from the shoulder closer to us and down across his waist. He points to our right with his right arm, closer to us. The fawn-brown glove or pair of gloves he holds in his other hand by his far hip is cut off by the bottom edge of the canvas.