Portrait of an African Man (Christophle le More?) | |
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Dutch: Portret van een Afrikaanse man | |
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Artist | Jan Mostaert |
Year | c. 1525–1530 |
Type | Oil on oak |
Dimensions | 30.8 cm × 21.2 cm (12.1 in × 8.3 in) |
Location | Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
The Portrait of an African Man (Dutch: Portret van een Afrikaanse man) also known as Portrait of a Moor (Dutch: Portret van een Moor) is a painting by the Dutch Renaissance painter Jan Mostaert. Mostaert probably made the painting between c. 1525 and 1530, or slightly earlier. The exact subject of the painting has long been unclear, although numerous ideas have been put forward, including that the depicted figure is a soldier, a nobleman or Saint Maurice. The portrait is significant in that it may portray the earliest surviving portrait of a specific black man in European painting,[1][2] though Saint Maurice, and Balthazar of the Three Kings or Biblical Magi, had long been usually portrayed as Africans.