This is a portrait of the painter and writer Gerard de Lairesse by Rembrandt. It’s painted in a style that’s typical of late Rembrandt—broad brush strokes, thick paint, and muted, dark tones.

The subject, Gerard de Lairesse, moved to Amsterdam in 1665. Rembrandt painted this portrait a few years later. He’s given Lairesse a quality of dignity and elegance. But look carefully at the ungainly hands, and face, and skin—the mottled irregularity of Rembrandt’s treatment. In fact, Lairesse suffered from hereditary syphilis. Rembrandt has caught the ravaging disease here in the recessed eyes and pockmarked skin. There is a quality of withdrawal or vulnerability in the painting as well, which could be a suggestion of the sitter’s ill health.

Twenty-five years after Rembrandt painted this portrait, Lairesse went blind. Since he could no longer paint, he turned his attention to writing. In 1707, Lairesse wrote an important art historical treatise in which he criticized Rembrandt’s technique. He denounced the artist’s thick brushstrokes and strong contrasts between light and dark. And he referred to Rembrandt’s palette as “liquid mud on the canvas.” There is no indication, however, that Lairesse ever voiced disdain for the sensitive portrait you see here.