Self-Portrait as a Lute Player

Jan Miense Molenaer

National Gallery of Art

A man with pale, peachy skin sits holding and tuning a lute next to a heavily laden table in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s body faces us, and he looks at us with light brown eyes under slightly furrowed brows. His round face is tipped slightly to our right, toward the neck of his instrument, so he looks out from the corners of his eyes. He has a round face, a snub nose, and his pale pink lips are closed. His dark blond mustache curls up at the ends, and he has a faint goatee. Nestled on chin-length, curly, light brown hair, his gray hat has a wide, soft brim pushed up around the crown. Much of his torso is covered by the lute but he wears a wide, white collar under a billowing, fawn-brown cloak. A cloth on his shirt or pinned under the instrument has small black dots on a white background. His knickerboxers match his cloak, and are tied with a brick-red ribbons just below his knees, over white stockings. More red ribbons are tied to the front of his black leather shoes, which have low heels. One foot rests splayed on the bare, hardwood floor. His other foot is propped up on the rail of the chair to support the instrument. One hand is braced over the strings, and he tunes the pegs with the other. He sits next to a table covered with an aquamarine-blue cloth and overflowing with kitchen utensils, smoking instruments, and food. Closest to the man, a pipe rests in an earthenware bowl filled with burning embers, which sits on a terracotta-orange plate. Near that are a silver-colored, covered ewer, a short drinking glass, a covered box with its lid open, and, to our right, a pewter plate with a roll and a knife. A wooden instrument like a small violin sits at the back of the table. The scene is lit from our left. The back wall of the room deepens from clay brown near the light to coffee brown in the upper right corner.