Portrait of a Fat Man

Filling the frame, the head of this unknown man has astonishing presence. The bulk of the fleshy cheeks has great immediacy, but the alert look in the eyes with their stylised rendering lends the portrait a quality that goes beyond corpulence. The person portrayed and his painter, who was probably from the circle of Rogier van der Weyden, aim to create a dignified portrait: the heaviness of the features makes the man recognisable as an individual, but his look is intended to express qualities of mind which could possibly be described as good judgement and reason, and certainly as piety too.