Portrait of a man or self-portrait

Portrait of a Man, or Possible Self-portrait from 1687 by Nicolaes Maes at the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon may show the artist in his mature years. If so, it would join the important tradition of Dutch artists' self-portraiture that includes Rembrandt's celebrated series and reflects a broader culture of artistic self-examination. Maes trained with Rembrandt in Amsterdam in the early 1650s before establishing himself as an independent master. His mature portrait style absorbed Flemish elegance—producing fashionable likenesses with looser brushwork and warmer flesh tones. The portrait is rendered with Maes's characteristic technique, the possible self-portrait showing the same naturalistic precision he brought to his commissioned likenesses, making the question of self-portraiture a matter of biographical rather than artistic significance.

The portrait is rendered with Maes's characteristic technique, the possible self-portrait showing the same naturalistic precision he brought to his commissioned likenesses.