The Standard Bearer, Floris Soop (1654)

Rembrandt (1606-1669)

The Standard Bearer, Floris Soop
1654
Oil on canvas, 140.3 x 114.9 cm
Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York

The flag, the plume in the hat, and the tooled leather baldric (sword-belt) indicate that the figure is an ensign in one of Amsterdam‘s civic guard companies. He is almost certainly Floris Soop, a wealthy bachelor whose estate included 140 paintings. Rembrandt conveys a strong sense of character and reveals extraordinary skill in the vigorously modeled face, the thick hair, and costume details. The impressions of volume in the figure and space in the background have been diminished by abrasion and darkening with age. (MET)

See also:

• Soop, Floris (1604-1657)