Oil on canvas in later giltwood frame.The fashionable and expensively dressed sitter looks confidently out of the frame as if surveying his extensive lands.His high wig (from which fashion came the expression ''big-wig'' for someone important), his silks, his sword and particularly his stance, all make this the archetypal Baroque portrait.The pose and treatment of the material are typical of Kerseboom. The hugely expensive lace is depicted with great care and skill.This type of portrait was usually on a larger scale e.g. 50 x 40 inches; the fact that this is ''in small'' suggests that it was for the ''cabinet''...the intimate room for favoured possessions that was so fashionable during the Baroque period. Perhaps painted for a wife or lover?JOHN (JOHANN) KERSEBOOM (working 1680s - 1708) Born in Solingen, the Rhineland; came to England in the 1680s he quickly acquired a large portrait clientele. His patterns derive from Lely and Kneller, but his heads have recognisab...