Portrait of a Nobleman in a Blue Cloak

This painting is a telling example of the contemporaneous prestigious portrait - the aristocrat is captured in three-quarter figure in a confident pose, in the setting of a chateau park. Here, Brandl drew inspiration from French and Dutch models, which he could have encountered in aristocratic picture galleries. Despite the social stylization, the painter was able to convincingly express the character of his sitter, depicting the face of the portrayed man in a matter-of-fact manner, without a complimentary hyperbole. Bottom left, the painting bears a false signature, but the authenticity of the canvas itself cannot be doubted. Brandl’s drawing representing an aristocrat’s figure of a conspicuously similar gesture is probably related to this painting.