This half-length portrait of a male sitter is set against a neutral brown background with some subtle lighter shading around the left shoulder. The subject is sitting upright in a self-confident pose, his arms folded in front of him. When individuals of high social status pose for a portrait painter, they can feel somewhat vulnerable. They hide their vulnerability by twisting their body slightly and smiling. But if an arms-folded pose is accompanied by a slight inclination or twist of the body, so that the right half of the body is no longer a mirror image of the left, this shows that the sitter feels dominant. Men frequently make use of an arms-folded pose in order to seem more powerful. Tominc painted this somewhat impatient and pompous man with realistic precision in fashionable pin-striped trousers and with a diamond breast pin.
The portrait was painted while Tominc was living in Trieste, where he became one of the most sought after portrait artists among the city’s wealthy middle classes, thanks to his skill at capturing not only the external appearance of his clients, but also their character.