![Thomas de Keyser - Portrait of a Man with a Shell [c.1625-26] by Gandalf's Gallery](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5547/9207371500_17713fa4db.jpg)
Thomas de Keyser - Portrait of a Man with a Shell [c.1625-26], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.
The man is a shell collector, in an age when foreign trade opened up a wide world of natural curiosities. De Keyser (Dutch, Amsterdam, 1596/97 - Amsterdam, 1667) was one of the leading portraitists in Amsterdam during the 1620s and 1630s. He is best known for small full-length portraits, but he also painted large group portraits and small bust- and half-length portraits.
[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Oil on wood, 23.8 x 17.1 cm]