Portrait of a man in profile, turned to the left (1632–34): Art, History and Details

Portrait of a man in profile, turned to the left (1632–34) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Simon Vouet (French, 1590–1649).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Simon Vouet characterized this sitter, likely an advisor to the court of King Louis XIII, with a spontaneous pose and specific facial expression. The man’s distinguishing features are his deeply lined, almond-shaped eyes, and unruly head of hair, whose top has been flattened forward by the hat, which he holds to his side. Vouet introduced a more naturalistic mode of portraiture to France when he returned to Paris in 1627 after fourteen years in Rome. His typically frank presentations dissolved the space between the artist and sitter.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of a man in profile, turned to the left
• Date: 1632–34
• Creator attribution: Simon Vouet (French, 1590–1649)
• Culture: France
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: black and white chalks, red, pink and yellow pastel on light brown paper
• Dimensions: Image: 27.5 x 20.8 cm (10 13/16 x 8 3/16 in.); Sheet: 49.4 x 38.6 cm (19 7/16 x 15 3/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2021.133

A detail from the museum

Simon Vouet drew portraits of courtiers at the express request of King Louis XIII, who wanted to observe him in order to learn how to draw.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.