Portrait of a Man in a Quilted Gown

Artist: Adriaen Van Der Werff (Dutch, 1659 - 1722)

Original Dimensions: 18 5/8" x 15 1/8"

Location: National Gallery of Art, London

About Artwork: (1685) "We don’t know who the sitter in this portrait is, but Adriaen van der Werff has portrayed him as a man of leisure and a lover of antiquities. He is pictured outside in his garden, wearing a luxurious quilted silk robe and white cravat. He gazes out at us, his eyes thoughtful and intelligent though perhaps a little distant. A Greek sculpture in the background is a copy of the so-called Farnese Flora – we don't know whether the figure represents Flora or Pomona, both goddesses of fertility and fruitfulness – which had been discovered sometime before 1532 in Rome. Here, the sculpture’s pose is in reverse; it was probably known to the artist in an engraving. It proclaims the sitter as a man of taste and refinement who would know of new discoveries and developments in the understanding of the classical age." - (National Gallery of Art, London)