3-075-342 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Hendrik Swalmius, 1639. A bearded male figure wearing a fitted black jacket and matching skullcap turns alertly toward the viewer. The black of the clothing is far from uniform: a warm, plush shade of black evokes embroidered velvet, while a colder, bluer black stands in for shimmering satin. Against these dark tonalities, the small book in the sitter’s right hand stands out in sharp relief. This is likely a Bible or a prayer book, as a contemporary engraving of the picture identifies the subject as Hendrik Swalmius, a preacher in Haarlem who was ordained in 1600.