Tête d'homme

This head of a man from around 1650 is a character study typical of Jordaens' continuous practice of painting from life models. Such studies served as a reservoir of physiognomic types that could be incorporated into larger historical, religious, or mythological compositions. Jordaens, who outlived both Rubens and Van Dyck to become the dominant figure in Flemish Baroque painting for the second half of the seventeenth century, was particularly celebrated for his exuberant genre subjects, especially his series on the Flemish proverb about the King of the Bean.

The head is painted with bold, assured brushwork and warm flesh tones, capturing individual character with the directness and physical immediacy that distinguish Jordaens' approach from Rubens' more idealized method.