Portrait of Thomas Bulwer
Gerard van Soest
1654
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
101.7 × 86.7 cm (40 1/16 × 34 1/8 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
15714
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Like many Dutch artists working in late 17th-century England, Gerard Soest catered to members of the upper social classes and aristocracy. The subject of this portrait, Norfolk gentleman Thomas Bulwer, likely hired Soest because of the painter’s ability to convey a sitter’s authority with directness and simplicity. Here, Soest depicted Bulwer clutching a scroll to signal his intellectual interests and influence. Likewise, the subject’s hand poised on the chair’s armrest suggests that he is about...