Portret van een onbekende man met een baret 1650 - 1800

This portrait of an unknown man with a beret was etched by an anonymous artist and now resides in the Rijksmuseum. The sitter’s dark beret and coat, contrasted with the light of his face, directs our attention immediately to his gaze. The man looks directly at us, and although we do not know his identity, his confident expression suggests a man of some status. He is self-assured, perhaps even challenging us. The small scale of this etching suggests that it was likely made for a print album, a popular format among collectors in the Netherlands. The Rijksmuseum itself provides us with an institutional framework to appreciate the print, but we must remember this image also existed in a very different social context, and this is something art historians must consider. By exploring the economic and social status of the Dutch print collector, we can gain a better understanding of this work.