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Weenix, Jan Baptist
Portrait of a Man with a Letter
Around 1648

This small portrait is painted on copper, allowing the paint to sit crisply upon the surface. The sitter is simply dressed but wears fine leather gloves and holds a letter, alluding to education and business or personal ties. His face is starkly illuminated, and a low vantage point enhances his air of superiority. This painting was once paired with a portrait of a man now in Chicago. The letter, bearing a mysterious sketch of a fish, may have been intended for him.

 
Weenix, Jan Baptist
Amsterdam, Netherlands 1621–Utrecht, Netherlands 1660/1661
Portrait of a Man with a Letter
Around 1648
Oil on copper
33.5 x 24.0 cm
Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader, 2013
56-003.30

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