Portrait of a Man

Known for his portraits, genre scenes, and religious works, Bernardo Strozzi was one of the most influential painters active in Genoa and Venice in the seventeenth century. Strozzi captured popular fashions in his portraiture. The sitter in the "Portrait of a Man" wears a doublet with buttons and a flat, white collar, which generally replaced the voluminous ruff. His long, wavy brown hair reflects a hairstyle in vogue at the time. From 1550 to 1650, beard fashions varied enough to include over fifty named styles. This sitter’s beard appears to be a variation on the “Roman T” or “hammer cut” beard, which included a straight moustache, a thin tuft of hair below the lower lip—the “handle” of the hammer—and perhaps a goatee. Beards were seen as symbols of masculinity as well as adulthood.