Philip Mercier

About this work

This is a black-and-white portrait of a man in old-fashioned clothes. He’s holding a small round object—maybe a coin or a palette—in one hand, and his other hand rests on a tall, narrow stand, like an easel. His coat has big buttons and a fancy collar, and he’s wearing a hat with a pattern on it. The background looks like a plain wall with a dark frame around the whole scene. The name at the bottom reads *Philip Mercier*, with a long title under it. That suggests he was someone important, maybe a painter or a librarian. The artist’s name, *J. Faber fecit 1735*, is stamped in the corner, telling us when it was made. If you like old portraits like this, look up Baroque.