Dutch school; end of the XVII century - beginning of the XVIII century.

Dutch school; end of the XVII century - beginning of the XVIII century.
"Male character".
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 31 x 25 cm; 52,5 x 46,5 cm (frame).
The work shows an upright gentleman, in a standing position and with aristocratic bearing, leaning on a cane, while carrying a hat adorned with feather, an accessory that responds to the courtly fashion and the refinement of the social elite of the time.
The character stands before a sketched landscape, a frequent resource in this type of compositions, where the environment is not intended to compete with the figure, but to suggest a framework of nobility and amplitude. This use of the landscape as a background responds to the desire to insert the individual in a symbolic context, in which the idealized nature and the haughty gesture reinforce the image of prestige and distinction.
Dutch portraiture of this period had reached a remarkable development, characterized by its attention to detail, its psychological realism and its ability to combine fidelity to the model's features with a visual language of social representation. While the first half of the 17th century was dominated by a more sober portrait with clear Calvinist roots, in the last decades of the century and in the transition to the 18th century there was a growing international Baroque influence, with greater theatricality, more open gestures and a staging that emphasized the rank and status of the sitter.