Portrait of a Young Man

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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In the early 1660s, when this portrait was made, this fancy outfit, bedecked with ruffles, ribbons and lace, was the height of sophisticated dressing, inspired by the latest fashions in Paris and employing the most expensive fabrics and tailoring.

We don’t know who the sitter is, though it seems almost certain that he was a wealthy burgher from the Dutch town of Deventer where ter Borch had settled in 1654. He was certainly a man of status, upright and conscious of demonstrating his social and financial status.

And he was apparently not afraid to alienate some of his more conservative contemporaries. Such ostentatious dressing was not universally approved of in the Netherlands at the time. Stricter Calvinists (who followed Calvinism, a branch of Protestantism) would certainly have raised their eyebrows at what one contemporary writer referred to as ‘immoderately loose and long garments… redolent of over-abundance and profligacy’.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Portrait of a Young Man

Date

about 1663

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 67.3 x W 54.3 cm

Accession number

NG1399

Acquisition method

Bought, 1894

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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