Peter Paul Rubens

Studio of Sir Peter Paul Rubens

National Gallery of Art

The head and chest of a man with pale pink skin, a honey-blond beard, and curly, mahogany-brown hair around a receding hairline fills this vertical portrait painting. His body and head are tipped to our left and he looks at or toward us with olive-green eyes. He has a long, pointed nose with lines around the nostrils leading down to his sweeping mustache. His soft beard below is trimmed to a point. His full, salmon-pink lips are closed. Faint sage green shades the inner corners of his eyes and the dips at his temples, beneath a shiny, balding head. His brown locks float around his face as if lifted by a breeze. His shoulders are enveloped by a chocolate-brown cloak, probably fur, and a swipe of vivid white paint at the back of his neck suggests a high, white collar. The background is mottled with rust-red, copper, and gold. The portrait is loosely painted in some areas, especially the fur cloak and background.