GOSSART, Jan
(b. ca. 1478, Maubeuge, d. 1532, Middelburg)

Portrait of a Man

1525-30
Oil on oak panel, 34 x 24 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

This portrait shows an unidentified man in middle age. The delicately rendered strands of his graying hair and the salt-and-pepper stubble of his beard, as well as his deeply lined jowls, sagging double chin, and the crow's-feet at the edge of his left eye, are closely observed.

This painting was once attributed to Hans Holbein. However, the style and execution are typical of Gossart's, rather than Holbein's works. Such portraits of modest size, tightly cropped, and featuring a plain dark green background were parrt of Gossart's standard output.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.