A Young Student at His Desk: Melancholy

On the left, a young student sits in a simple chair, slouched with his head propped on his hand, and a melancholic, introspective expression. He wears a brown doublet with a lace collar, full breeches, and stockings, while a desk with stacked books and papers sits to his right. The painting employs a naturalistic Dutch genre style with a restrained palette of browns, grays, and pale yellows and soft light that models the figure and the textures of cloth and wood.