This artwork is fairly conventional in the stance and rendering of the subject, compared to the artist’s, Harmen Willems Wieringa, contemporaries’ works. Additionally this work offers little psychological insight to the sitter. Little is known about Wieringa or the sitter. The most we know about his career comes from his small collection of paintings. The earliest known work by him is a landscape. Later in his life he seems to have moved on to portrait painting. This was painted in 1625, and ten years later his Portrait of a Boy, shows very few stylistic adaptations comparatively. Some of Wierigna’s works, including this one, were originally attributed to his contemporaries in Friesland, Amsterdam, Leiden and Haarlem, however J. Nieuwstraten correctly attributed this one to Wierigna.

Wieringa perpetuates the importance Dutch artists assign to fine details. The texture in the satin of the clothing and curtain to the sitter’s right is remarkable. It is interesting to note, that while the texture on the fabric is significant, the quality of the skin is less well rendered. It is obvious that his contemporaries in the area influenced him when it came to portrait painting. Portrait of a Man Standing is comparable to a work by Pieter Codde, another Friesian artist.

http://smalltreasures.as.ua.edu/?p=335

by Emma Bolton