A Chief of Abyssinia

Henri Regnault

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the shoulders up and from a low vantage point, a man with dark brown skin and black hair looks up and to our left in this vertical portrait painting. His shoulders are angled to our right, but he turns his head to look off with dark eyes. His lower lip comes slightly forward from the upper, and his mustache continues in lines from the corners of his mouth down to his square jawline. His hair creates a halo around his face, and a crimson-red cloth wraps across his shoulders. He is lit from our upper right, and the background brightens from golden yellow along the right edge of the canvas to vivid, shimmering yellow to the left. The portrait is loosely painted, especially in the clothing and the background.