The image depicts a male figure in a dynamic pose. The man is standing with one foot forward and turning his upper body to the side, while his head is slightly turned away from the viewer, revealing the profile view of his face. He has a prominent nose, hair styled back into a small ponytail or queue typical of the 18th century, and is wearing a three-cornered hat, a long coat, knee-length breeches, and stockings. The man's coat appears voluminous with visible folds, and one arm is slightly bent and placed on his hip. The background is a plain, neutral paper texture.
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The image depicts a male figure in a dynamic pose. The man is standing with one foot forward and turning his upper body to the side, while his head is slightly turned away from the viewer, revealing the profile view of his face. He has a prominent nose, hair styled back into a small ponytail or queue typical of the 18th century, and is wearing a three-cornered hat, a long coat, knee-length breeches, and stockings. The man's coat appears voluminous with visible folds, and one arm is slightly bent and placed on his hip. The background is a plain, neutral paper texture.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

A French Gentleman Standing

Jacques André Portail

Medium
black and red chalk on laid paper
Dimensions
overall: 23.5 x 13.5 cm (9 1/4 x 5 5/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
1963.15.24
Credit line
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Time span
1651 to 1700
Department
CG-E

Subjects and terms

  • French
  • Standing
  • male
  • figure
Provenance

Possibly Richard Owen, Paris.[1] purchased 1940 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1963 to NGA. [1] According to Colin Eisler, _Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools, Excluding Italian_, Oxford, 1977: 308, n. 3, the drawing is possibly identical with the Portail drawing shown 16 October to 6 November 1933 in New York in the exhibition _French Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Collection of Richard Owen of Paris_ at the Joseph Brummer Galleries.

Inscription

on verso in brown ink: chez

Watermarks

Bunch of grapes

NGA object ID 47110. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.