Portrait of a Scholar

A man in an exquisite black outfit sits in a dark room. Lying on the table is a heavy oriental carpet, with a lectern and some books resting on top. The sitter looks out at us as he browses through one of the books. This gives the impression that we are interrupting his studies and lends the portrait a certain informality.

Thomas de Keyser specialised in small portraits like this, in which the sitter is portrayed full length. His portraits were popular among the Amsterdam elite, until Rembrandt moved to the city and became the pre-eminent portrait painter.