The man in the seventeenth portrait is painted in a disjointed, mosaic form.  He is wearing a mismatched shirt and jacket and he sits in a large room of which the walls are lined with full bookcases. Beside him on a glass table sits a vase of tulips.  The man is alone in the large room.

                This man is a forty-five year old History professor at Columbia University.  He lives in New York City, in a spacious loft apartment near the campus.  The professor received his undergraduate degree from Columbia and returned after receiving his Doctorate to begin a fifteen year career.  In addition to teaching full time, the man is a lover of books―especially History books―and his apartment is filled with accounts of everything from the history of the Aztecs to the American Civil War.  He has even written a few books of his own.

                The professor is cultured and quiet.  He is a thoughtful man that would be perfectly content to keep to himself and immerse himself in his books.  Often, he disappears for days at a time while he pours over a new book and emerges only when he becomes too hungry to concentrate.  The man is also very organized and neat.  His apartment is spotless and orderly, with everything in its place.  However, he is also very eccentric and slightly absentminded. 

                A year ago, the man received divorce papers from his wife of twenty years and the love of his wife.  They met at Columbia when they were still in school and were married a few years later.  The couple never had any children because they were both busy with careers, but they had a very loving marriage.  However, two years ago, the man became detached and buried himself in his work.  Slowly, he distanced himself from his neglected wife.  Finally, she left him and filed for divorce.

                Since his divorce, the man has again busied himself with his books and his teaching.  This has helped to distract him from the pain of his divorce, but he can still feel her absence at times.  The man’s wife always chose his outfits for him because of his lack of understanding of fashion.  However, with her gone, he often stands staring at his closet, wondering what she would pick for him to wear (he is usually wrong, like with the jacket and shirt he wears in the portrait).  He also keeps fresh tulips in a vase on his table because tulips were his wife’s favorite flower.  Recently, it has become a habit for the man to buy tulips on the way home from work, even though he no longer does it on purpose. 

                This portrait shows a man whose first love is his work.  Though his love of history caused him to lose his wife, but he returned to it with the same fervor as before.  He is sometimes sad and lonely, but he is happy with his lifelong pursuit of knowledge and his love of history.

Who is that Person?

The man in the seventeenth portrait is painted in a disjointed, mosaic form.  He is wearing a mismatched shirt and jacket and he sits in a large room of which the walls are lined with full bookcases. Beside him on a glass table sits a vase of tulips.  The man is alone in the large room.

                From his hairstyle, outfit and glasses, one can guess that the man is in his mid-forties.  His pants are somewhat short, showing his ankles, and they remind me of something that my father would wear.  However, his lack of grey hair or visible wrinkles leads me to believe that he is not any older than fifty years old.  The man’s jacket and shirt suggest a person who is somewhat eclectic and cares little about fashion.  The mosaic style of the portrait also hinted at eclecticism. The expression on his face, as well as the way he folds his hands in his lap lead me to believe that this person is very intellectual, quiet and polite.

                My first thought about this person after seeing his portrait was that he must be a professor or he must have another profession that requires him to be well read and intelligent.  Along the wall in the background are many bookshelves full of books.  This man probably either loves to read and research or collects books to display in his apartment.  The man’s slightly eclectic and professional outfit also led me to believe that he is a professor and an intellectual.

                The man’s surroundings make him seem as though he is a successful individual who has a high income.  The room he is in looks like it is a loft apartment, perhaps in a large city such as New York City.  On the second story wall, there is a large painting, suggesting that the man earns enough money to buy expensive items.  His face also has an air of sophistication when examined closely.

                As I examined the portrait, it seemed to me that this man was alone, and that the size of the apartment emphasized his solitude.  Though there are no actual clues in the painting to suggest that this man lives alone, the feeling of loneliness lingered in my mind as I examined the portrait, so I decided that he must be lonely.  Beside him on the table, there is a vase of tulips, possibly refuting my idea that he lives alone.  However, the rest of the apartment is very neat and tidy and there are some decorations, like the painting.  It is entirely possible that the man could appreciate beauty and that is the reason he keeps tulips.

                This man is obviously a successful and sophisticated intellectual.  He seems contemplative and satisfied with his life and his apartment suggests a tendency to be very organized.  However, to me, the painting hints at the solitude of a man who probably cared more about intellectual pursuits than other people close to him.