Portrait of an old man with a beard
ca. 1787–1851
Medium
Mezzotint
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 13 1/8 × 9 3/4 in. (33.3 × 24.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.7579
Tags
Art Historical Context
This evocative *Portrait of an Old Man a Beard* is aotint print after a painting by the Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), meticulously engraved by Vincenz Georg Ker around 1787–1851. Rubens, a Flemish artist renowned for his dynamic compositions and lush, sensual style, captured the subject's weathered dignity with penetrating gaze and flowing beard, hallmarks of his portraits that blend depth with dramatic realism. Kininger's reproduction preserves Rubens' vitality, making this 17th-century vision accessible to 19th-century audiences. zzotint, the print's medium, revolutionized p...
About the Artist
Peter Paul Rubens|Vincenz Georg Kininger · 1577–1640
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) stands as the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition and the greatest exponent of Baroque painting's dynamism, vitality, and sensuous exuberance. Born in Siegen, Westphalia, and raised in Antwerp, Rubens received a humanist education studying Latin and classical literature before pursuing artistic training under three masters: Tobias Verhaecht, Adam ...