Study of a Man with a Rosary Around his Neck

Although women were the favourite subject for portraits of simple folk for their natural beauty and grace, Trindade also paint quite a few ordinary men.
This remarkable portrait depicts the profile of a Christian man with scapular and rosary around his neck. Little importance is given to the background in a light wash or his outfit, directing the attention of the viewer to the sitter’s physical features. His gentle figure and charming light eyes were what perhaps caught the artist’s attention to an otherwise common character. His suntanned skin and unruled beard reveal his social condition. As in all his portraits of simple folk, Trindade always conveys a fundamental sense of dignity of the common man.
References: Gracias, Fátima, Faces of Colonial India: The Work of Goan Artist António Xavier Trindade (1870-1935), Panjim, Goa, Fundação Oriente, 2014.