Portrait of a Man

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

1657–58

Sébastien Bourdon (French, 1616–1671)

This portrait, at once elegant and direct, may be a remnant of a larger painting of the consuls, or civic administrators, of Montpellier, Sébastien Bourdon’s native city in the south of France. Bourdon returned there briefly in the midst of a career that included early years in Rome, successful activity in Paris, and a short stint at the Stockholm court of Queen Christina of Sweden from 1652 to 1653. The large, isolated swath of fabric on the left and the absence of the sitter’s left hand suggest that it was cut from Bourdon’s group portrait.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Sébastien Bourdon
Title: Portrait of a Man
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1657–1658
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 104.2 × 88.1 cm (41 1/16 × 34 11/16 in.); Framed: 125.8 × 139.1 cm (49 1/2 × 54 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Reference Number: 1975.582
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/49422/manifest.json

“La Chronique des arts: Principales Acquisitions des musées en 1975,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th ser., 89 (1977), suppl. to no. 1298, p. 49, no. 194 (ill.).
Dominique Vasseur, “Portrait of a Man by Sébastien Bourdon,” Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 71, 3 (1977), pp. 2–5 (ill. and cover ill.).
J. Patrice Marandel in Frédéric Bazille and Early Impressionism, exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago, 1978, p. 12 (ill.). 
The Art Institute of Chicago 100 Masterpieces, Chicago 1978, p. 62, no. 24 (ill.). 
Jean Pierre Cuzin, “Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: New York, French Seventeenth-Century Paintings from American Collections,” Burlington Magazine 124 (1982), pp. 529, 530. 
J. V. Hantz, “La Peinture française du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines,” L’Amateur d’art 680 (1982), p. 20.
Claude Lesné, “La Peinture française du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines,” Le Petit Journal des grandes exposition 116 (1982), no p. (ill.).
Ekkehard Mai, “La Peinture française du XVII siècle dans les collections américaines,” Pantheon 40 (1982), p. 153. 
Pierre Rosenberg, “A Golden Century in French Painting,” Connaissance des arts 25 (February, 1982), p. 74.
Christopher Wright, The French Painters of the Seventeenth Century, London, 1985, p. 149.
Christopher Wright, The World’s Master Paintings from the Early Renaissance to the Present Day: A Comprehensive Listing of Works by 1,300 Painters and a Complete Guide to Their Locations Worldwide, 1991, vol. 1, p. 232, vol. 2, pp. 61, 501.
M[ichel] H[ilaire] in Grand Siècle. Peintures françaises du XVIIe siècle dans les collections publiques françaises, exh. cat., Montréal, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, and Montpellier, Musée Fabre, 1993, p. 290, fig. 2, under no. 100.
Alain Mérot, French Painting in the Seventeenth Century, trans. Caroline Beamish (New Haven and London, 1995), p. 192.
Susan Wise in Susan Wise and Malcolm Warner, French and British Paitings from 1600 to 1800 in The Art Institute of Chicago. A Catalogue of the Collection (Chicago, 1996), pp. 21-24, ill.
Jacques Thuillier, Sébastien Bourdon 1616-1671. Catalogue critique et chronologique de l’oeuvre complet, exh. cat., Musée Fabre, Montpellier and Musées de Strasbourg, 2000/2001, pp. 256-257, no. 222, ill.

The Art Institute of Chicago, European Portraits, 1600–1900, in The Art Institute of Chicago, 1978, no. 4.
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, La Peinture française du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines, Janary 29–April 26,1982, no. 10, cat. by Pierre Rosenberg; traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 26–August 22, 1982; Chicago, Art Institute, September 18–November 28, 1982.
Montpellier, Musée Fabre, Sébastien Bourdon, 1616–1671, July 4-October 15, 2000, cat. 222; Strasbourg, Musée des Beaux-Arts, November 7, 2000-February 4, 2001 (Montpellier only).

Private collection, England [letter of 13 January 1981 from Andrew S. Ciechanowiecki of Heim Gallery; however the Heim commission book for 1970-85 at the J. Paul Getty Research Center, Los Angeles, states that the painting came from the Etablissement Rustique in Vaduz, Liechtenstein in 1975]. Heim Gallery, London, 1975; sold by Heim to the Art Institute, 1975.

Unknown 4,

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.