Cornelis de Neve

Self portrait of the Flemish artist who lived many years in England and painted several portraits of the great and good. This picture was finished in 1645 and shows two interesting items of clothing. He seems to be wearing a black peaked cap on his head, rather like a montero without the folded skirt piece. Peaked caps aren’t particularly common in the 1640s, only appearing in two contemporary pictures as far as I know and being referred to in writing almost as infrequently. He also has a narrow piece of quite high quality linen or maybe silk looped and tied around his neck like a cravat. This is also unusual for the period as far as portraits go. It is nicely finished with a fringe at both ends. The original hangs on Oxford. © 2011 University of Oxford – Ashmolean Museum