Head of an Old Man

Portraits like this led Jacques De Gheyn III's biographer to declare that he had a "predilection for elderly, wrinkled models." De Gheyn III portrayed this unknown individual in profile, with his thin forelock, long nose, and full beard successively cascading down the left side of the drawing. Using a wide variety of thick and thin pen lines, dots, dashes, and calligraphic hatching, De Gheyn conveyed the textural effects of the sitter's hair and rough, aged skin. Though no certain connection has been found, historians have suggested that De Gheyn may have made this work in preparation for his series The Seven Wise Men of Greece, published in 1616.