Bearded, red-headed Man, seated

This portrait has been considered to be by an anonymous Flemish artist but there are grounds for attributing it to Pierre Pourbus, a Dutch artist who worked in Brussels where he entered the painters’ guild as a master in 1543. Pourbus produced altarpieces, particularly triptychs with lateral doors that frequently include group portraits or portraits of confraternity members. He also executed individual portraits and maps, of which six of the documented twenty-eight have survived.

The black suit with large shoulders and the ruffled collar and short cuffs of the shirt are typical of men’s fashion in Brussels at this period. Pourbus generally depicted both hands, one often holding a glove, although this is not the case here. In at least one example, Young Monk (Mauritshuis, The Hague), the sitter is holding a book. In the doors of an altarpiece on which he painted thirty-two members of the Confraternity of the Holy Blood in 1556 (Fine Arts Museum, Bruges), various members have similar beards to the present sitter and some even have red hair, for which reason it may be possible that this sitter is among them. Pourbus achieves an attention to realist detail and individualised characterisation of the sitter without recourse to dramatic effects. In addition, this work is notable for its fine, delicate approach devoid of marked contrasts of form or light. It is, as a result, of higher quality than other portraits by the artist.