Portrait of a Gentleman Wearing a Fancy Ruff

Thomas de Keyser

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the chest up, a bearded man with pale skin and flushed cheeks wears a chestnut-brown jacket with a thick, lace-trimmed, pleated, cream-white collar in this octagonal portrait painting. The man’s body is angled to our right, and he cuts his light brown eyes back to look at us. Wrinkles line the corners of his eyes under dark brows, and he has a straight, narrow nose and high cheekbones. His red lips are closed and almost lost in the shadow of his full, trimmed beard. His dark brown hair is combed back from a receding hairline and falls around his ears. The dense, ruffled collar comes up to the earlobe we can see. His brown vest has a row of gold buttons down the front, and there are more gold buttons down the sleeve. He is lit from our left so the far side of his face is in shadow. The dark brown background lightens slightly around his face.