3-035-703 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Double Portrait, about 1660-1662. Additional Info: Two European men in Middle Eastern dress pose in front of a parapet. The bearded man on the left gestures to the right, while the other man looks in the same direction and holds a cryptic message in Italian: Sig:r mio videte la strade di sa lute per la mano di sweerts (My Lord, see the way to salvation by the hand of Sweerts). The note's meaning and the identity of the two gentlemen have eluded scholars. The two men appear to be individualized portraits, recalling the tradition of friendship portraits so popular in Northern Europe.