Man Holding a Jug
ca. 1660
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
19 3/8 x 15 3/8 in. (49.2 x 39.1 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Herman and Lila Shickman, 2001
Accession Number
2001.613
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the European Paintings gallery of the Metropolitan Museum of, *Man Holding a Jug* (ca. 1660) by Michiel Sweertsivates with its intimate scale and lifelike detail. This oil on canvas, measuring just 19⅜ × 15⅜ inches, exemplifies the Flemish artist's mastery during the Baroque era. Sweerts, a Brussels-born painter who traveled to Rome and worked amid the vibrant Dutch and Italian genre scenes, specialized in small-scale portraits and character studies known as *tronies*—fictionalized depictions of ordinary folk that blend realism with subtle narrative intrigue. The painting features a somber...