Abraham Ortelius (Wortels)

Philip Galle

National Gallery of Art

The image shows a colored portrait of a man in a bust view, facing to the right. He has a bald head with gray hair around the sides, a beard, pointed nose, and high cheekbones. He wears an ornate outfit with a white ruffled collar, a black undergarment, and a red outer garment trimmed with brown fur. There are black embellishments on his sleeve. The portrait is in an elaborate frame with floral and scroll motifs in red, gold, blue, and green. The frame includes a round emblem with the letters "IHS" or a similar symbol at the top. A Latin inscription is below the oval frame. The background is off-white paper, slightly discolored with age at the corners.