Portrait of a Gentleman
Cornelius Johnson, English
ca. 1635-1640
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mabel Johnson Langhorne
Accession Number
1956.11.27
Tags
aristocratPortrait male
About this artwork
When this portrait entered the Smithsonian it was thought to be a posthumous image of Henry, Prince of Wales, who died in 1612. Curators questioned this identification after comparing it to life portraits of the prince, whose features differ noticeably from those of this man. But the sitterâs long hair, lace collar, and elaborate sleeves mark him as a cavalier, a supporter of the king in the civil war that eventually drove Cornelius Johnson to Holland. When the portrait was painted, Johnson wa...