Gerrit Schipper (attributed) Drawing: Portrait Of A Dandy In Profile, Wearing A Suit, In Pastel, Oval, Directoire Style

Portrait of a Man in Profile – Directoire Pastel / Empire period, 1795–1800, attributed to Gerrit Schipper

Bust portrait of a man, depicted in right-facing profile, in the style of a physionotrace, within an oval frame. The subject wears a dark blue coat with a stand-up collar, a yellow waistcoat, and a high white cravat in the style of the First Empire.

A very delicate pastel portrait on paper, executed in a small format characteristic of profile portraits from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The face is rendered with great precision in the lines of the forehead, nose, mouth, and chin, while the hair is depicted as a dense brown mass enlivened by lighter highlights. The skin tones are achieved through delicate layers of cream, pink, and ochre tones, with very soft shading. The gray-blue background is rendered with a stump, featuring a light halo behind the head and a gradual darkening toward the right. The blue garment, which is denser and more saturated, forms a dark mass that structures the composition. The technique combines pastel, chalk, and graphite pencil for certain details of the drawing.

Attribution: attributed to Gerrit Schipper (1775–c. 1832). The attribution is based on several consistent elements: a strict profile, small format, oval composition, cool color palette, a blurred gray-blue background, and precise rendering of the face. This type of small profile portrait is characteristic of his work around 1800; several portraits by Gerrit Schipper preserved in public collections display the same economy of means, the same strict profile, the same oval frame, and very similar, if not identical, dimensions.

Dimensions: 31 x 26 cm with the frame; oval alone 18 x 13.5 cm.

Good overall condition for its age. Note a small hole at the very top of the sheet, above the oval, visible in the photographs