# Portrait of a Man [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GOSSART, Jan]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on oak panel, 64 x 48 cm ## Commentary Portrait of a Man c. 1530 Oil on oak panel, 64 x 48 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington This well preserved painting represents the peak of Gossart's portraiture. In terms of its ambitious composition and the mastery illusion inn depicting such a wide variety of objects, it is unparalleled in his oeuvre. It joins a group of occupational portraits that had begun to appear by the middle of the fifteenth century, with examples such as <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/c/christus/2/eligius.html'\)" href="/html/c/christus/2/eligius.html">St Eligius in His Workshop</a> by Petrus Christus, and became increasingly popular in the early sixteenth century with paintings by <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/o/orley/zelle.html'\)" href="/html/o/orley/zelle.html">Bernaert van Orley,</a> <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/m/massys/quentin/2/moneylen.html'\)" href="/html/m/massys/quentin/2/moneylen.html">Quentin Massys,</a> <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/h/heemsker/1/3portrai.html'\)" href="/html/h/heemsker/1/3portrai.html">Maerten van Heemskerck,</a> <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/h/holbein/hans\_y/1528/8kratze.html'\)" href="/html/h/holbein/hans\_y/1528/8kratze.html">Hans Holbein,</a> and <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/r/reymersw/mchanger.html'\)" href="/html/r/reymersw/mchanger.html">Marinus van Reymerswaele.</a> The sitter of the present painting has been identified by the objects on his desk as either a banker or a merchant. According to a recent research, he is Jan Jacobsz. Snoeck \(1510-1585\), a descendant of a noble family of Gorinchem, who held important posts, including alderman, in his town. ## Related artworks - [A Grotesque with Two Sirens]() - [A Man Holding a Glove]() - [A Reliquary]() - [A Women's Bath]() - [Adam Accuses Eve before God]() - [Adam and Eve \(detail\)]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Agony in the Garden \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()