Portrait of an Unknown Young Man in an Imagined Roman Costume 1656 - 1723

This drawing of an unknown young man in an imagined Roman costume was created by Gottfried Kneller. The portrait is evocative of its time. Kneller was a leading portrait painter of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, a period in which the aesthetics of the European elite embraced classicism. The imagined Roman costume and classical architecture are evidence of this trend. Yet, if you look at the boy, the tenderness of his features, his soft gaze, you might sense something more. The artwork also portrays the subject in the dawn of youth, at a turning point in the formation of identity. Kneller seems to capture a moment of quiet introspection. What does it mean to be portrayed in the attire of a distant era? How does one's own identity relate to historical roles and expectations? Perhaps, these are the questions the artwork prompts, reminding us of the deeply personal experience of inhabiting history.