Collection Online as of March 31, 2023
Portrait of a man in profile, turned to the left
Simon Vouet
(French, 1590–1649)
Black and white chalks, red, pink and yellow pastel on light brown paper
Image: 27.5 x 20.8 cm (10 13/16 x 8 3/16 in.); Sheet: 49.4 x 38.6 cm (19 7/16 x 15 3/16 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2021.133
Location
not on view
Description
Simon Vouet characterized this sitter, likely an advisor to the court of King Louis XIII, with a spontaneous pose and specific facial expression. The man’s distinguishing features are his deeply lined, almond-shaped eyes, and unruly head of hair, whose top has been flattened forward by the hat, which he holds to his side. Vouet introduced a more naturalistic mode of portraiture to France when he returned to Paris in 1627 after fourteen years in Rome. His typically frank presentations dissolved the space between the artist and sitter.