Portrait of a Young Man

As the son of the Antwerp landscape painter Matthieu van Plattenberg, who had settled in Paris, Nicolas de Plattemontagne became an apprentice in the workshop of Philippe de Champaigne. His portrait oeuvre is very similar to that of his teacher, after whose work he made numerous engravings. Set against an almost monochrome background, a young man with luxuriant tresses and dark eyes stares directly at the viewer. His sober attire is not differentiated; only the grey-white turndown collar is visible. In the studio, De Plattemontagne forged a close friendship with the nephew of Philippe de Champaigne, Jean Baptiste, who was the same age. They collaborated on the double portrait in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, in which they depicted one another. The unknown man in the Ghent portrait closely resembles the Jean Baptist of the double portrait, albeit at a later stage of life.