A Man Cutting Tobacco

Mattia Preti

National Gallery of Art

A light-skinned, clean-shaven man sitting cross-legged on the floor nearly fills this almost square painting. His body is angled to our right, and he bends forward, using a knife to cut a block of dried tobacco leaves on a wood board. A straight-edged bowl is nearby to collect the flakes. The man’s head is unevenly shaved so is short on the side and bushier down the middle of his head to the back. He has a round nose, and his pink lips are parted. He wears a golden-yellow vest over a white shirt, the puffy sleeves roll up to expose the upper arms. A scarlet-red overskirt drapes across his hips over roomy slate-gray, knee-length pants. He is barefoot, and we see the underside of the toes closer to us. A scale and two roll-sized loaves of bread on a white cloth sit on the ground in front of him along the bottom edge of this canvas. Light falls across the scene from our left so the far side of his face is in shadow, as is the space behind the man. Only the top of the head of a second man, also bald, and a hand holding a long, glowing tobacco pipe are clearly visible in the shadows. The man lies with his head toward us, and his body disappears behind the other person.