Description

In addition to painting scenes of street life with picturesque characters inspired by his years in Rome, Sweerts also produced a few portraits as well as a series of half-length and bust-length elderly and young men and boys. These figures are depicted against a plain, dark background with the head turned to one side and the light entering from the left.

Boy in a Turban holding a Nosegay has been associated with the group of paintings that Sweerts executed at the end of his Amsterdam period. The fact that the boy is holding a nosegay has led to the suggestion that this is a representation of the sense of Smell. Sweerts executed two, now dispersed, series on the Five Senses.

The image of this boy is conveyed with a great sense of volume through the modelling and the combination of colours chosen for the clothes.