Portrait of a Young Man

A man, dressed in black, stands against a blue background that is tempered by the light. The clarity of the meticulously painted face and hands contrasts with his black, almost monochrome, clothes.

In the 16th century, the middle classes adopted the fashion of wearing black as a sign of social distinction. Difficult to obtain and therefore very expensive, black was not governed by the sumptuary laws of the time, which reserved clothes of certain colors, such as rich scarlet and peacock blue, for princes. Here, the sobriety of the black reflects the elegance of the wearer, who was probably an Italian merchant living in Antwerp.