around 1627 -1697 · Haarlem and Amsterdam

Direct portraits, civic groups and contemporary characters disguised as ancient heroes make Jan de Bray one of the great representatives of Dutch classicism.

Jan de Bray was born in Haarlem around 1627 into a family where painting, architecture, poetry and humanist culture were closely linked. His father, Salomon de Bray, painter and architect, probably directed his training; his maternal uncle Jan Westerbaen, portrait painter, also contributed to his learning of the face. Jan develops a way where the natural observation of models accords with ideals of clarity, balance and beauty borrowed from Antiquity. He became especially famous for his portraits and his history paintings. He became especially famous for his portraits and his history paintings. In historical portraiture, his most original specialty, contemporaries took the appearance of biblical, mythological or ancient characters: the image records their features while associating their identity with an exemplary virtue or story. Portrait of a man shows this alliance of presence and restraint. Light builds the face, dark clothing concentrates attention and pose avoids any unnecessary effect. In 1663 and 1664, the plague hit Haarlem hard: his parents and several of his brothers and sisters died, a tragedy which had a profound impact on his life. Despite these losses, De Bray pursued an important career, several times exercising responsibilities in the guild of Saint-Luc and painted family portraits, regents, professional groups and historical scenes. He also worked as an architect and inventor, sensitive skills in the structured organization of his compositions. Installed in Amsterdam at the end of the 1680s, he still participated in technical projects and obtained citizenship in 1692. Died in 1697, he left a work where classical dignity never masked the concrete individuality of the model. The "Jan de Bray" selection notably compares Portrait of a Man. His reading favors movement.

De Bray gives the portrait a longer memory than the face: the real person already seems to be entering history.