Portrait of a Man

This man was painted as one half of a married couple. His wife's portrait, dated the same year, 1564, hangs beside him in Vienna, and as custom required, the husband takes the side that heraldry ranked higher. He sits at half length and meets our eyes, one arm set out from his body in a pose that signalled confidence and standing. His hand rests on a dagger in an ornate sheath decorated with two tiny laurel-crowned heads, an old sign of heroism. In the other hand he holds a patterned handkerchief with tassels, a fashionable accessory and a mark of a nobleman. The black doublet has a silky sheen, with lace at the collar and cuffs. For all that care, nobody knows who he was. The seal ring on his index finger has not identified him, and neither has the coat of arms that X-rays found beneath the paint.