French school, ca. 1700.
"Male portrait.
Oil on canvas. Re-coloured.
Size: 76 x 59 cm; 83 x 68 cm (frame).
In this canvas we see a gentleman elegantly dressed in the fashion of the time, portrayed half-length in the foreground, on a neutral and dark background from which the figure emerges with illusionism, illuminated directly by a homogeneous light, which leaves behind the excessive and chiaroscuro contrasts of lights and shadows of the previous century. He wears a powdered wig. As with the "couturiers" or couturiers, hairdressers became known by name, and by the 18th century they had become a recognised profession. Wigs were made from human hair, goat's hair, horsehair or vegetable fibres, and were worn by men and women of all classes. His torso is covered by armour, as well as by a cloak of wide, chiaroscuro folds of Baroque heritage, in this case in red.