Portrait of a man
1704
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1704
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of a man is a 1704 by Unknown, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This is a small portrait of a young man from northern India. He wears a white turban, a striped robe, and a single gold earring. His face is smooth except for a faint mustache. The artist tried different outlines before settling on this one—you can still see ghostly white smudges where earlier versions were painted over. That same white paint brightens his eyes and clothes, making them stand out. It’s like a sketch that became the final piece. To see more works like this, look up northern india, pahari kingdoms.
Before creating final paintings, Pahari artists made drawings in order to perfect portraits or expressions. The curling side lock indicates that he is an unmarried youth with just the beginnings of a moustache. Areas of white paint around the outline of the face effectively erase prior attempts at drawing his profile. The artist used the same white paint to highlight the eyes, turban, and garment.
This drawing was once owned by William E. Ward, the CMA’s chief designer from 1957 to 1993, who taught Calligraphy and Watercolor at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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