The Hermit

Niederländische Malerei 1660–1672, 1670

A pale-skinned, balding man with a fringe of white hair and a long, wispy gray beard kneels with his fingers intertwined in prayer in a shadowy grotto-like space in this vertical painting. He faces our right in profile, and his eyes look up at a crucifix propped against several woven baskets leaning against a moss-covered, gnarled tree. His hands rest on the open pages of a large book at the base of the crucifix. He wears a dark tawny-brown robe with a voluminous hood, and a string of thick rosary beads hanging from his waist ends with a tiny skull and a cross. A brick archway frames him, and another archway is seen through the opening. An unlit lantern hangs from the tree over the crucifix. The book, baskets, and crucifix along with a skull and hourglass sit on a rock covered by a cloth. An overturned pottery jug, a water jug, and a horse’s skull rest among a tall thistle plant and grass at the foot of the rock, in the lower right corner of the panel.
Artist
Niederländische Malerei 1660–1672
Date
1670
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on oak panel
Dimensions
46 × 34.5 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

A pale-skinned, balding man with a fringe of white hair and a long, wispy gray beard kneels with his fingers intertwined in prayer in a shadowy grotto-like space in this vertical painting. He faces our right in profile, and his eyes look up at a crucifix propped against several woven baskets leaning against a moss-covered, gnarled tree. His hands rest on the open pages of a large book at the base of the crucifix. He wears a dark tawny-brown robe with a voluminous hood, and a string of thick rosary beads hanging from his waist ends with a tiny skull and a cross. A brick archway frames him, and another archway is seen through the opening. An unlit lantern hangs from the tree over the crucifix. The book, baskets, and crucifix along with a skull and hourglass sit on a rock covered by a cloth. An overturned pottery jug, a water jug, and a horse’s skull rest among a tall thistle plant and grass at the foot of the rock, in the lower right corner of the panel.

Niederländische Malerei 1660–1672