# Portrait of Nicolas Trigault in Chinese Costume [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [RUBENS, Peter Paul]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Chalk, pastel, pen and ink on light brown laid paper, 446 x 248 mm ## Commentary This magnificent costume study is also an affecting portrait of Nicolas Trigault, a Flemish Jesuit missionary to China. Rubens, who had close ties to the Jesuit college of Antwerp, made the drawing when Trigault visited the city to raise funds and recruit new missionaries. The costume combines a Korean cap and the robe of a Chinese scholar, conveying the Jesuits' desire to assimilate into Chinese culture while at the same time acknowledging and keeping a certain distance from it. ## Related artworks - [A Forest at Dawn with a Deer Hunt]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Albert and Nicolaas Rubens]() - [Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara]() - [Allegorical Glorification of King James I]() - [Allegorical Glorification of King James I]() - [Allegorical Glorification of King James I]() - [Allegorical Glorification of King James I]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()