Johan the Elder of Nassau
1850
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
About the artist
1850
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Johan the Elder of Nassau is a 1850 ink by Unknown 19th Century, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This is a black-and-white portrait of a bearded man in a round frame. He’s wearing a fancy collar and a heavy chain around his neck, holding a scroll or paper in one hand. The background is plain, but the edges of the frame have Latin words carved into it. The artist used tiny lines to create shadows and texture—this is called cross-hatching. It makes the face and clothes look almost three-dimensional. Look up cross-hatching to see how artists build depth with just lines.
