Around 1617, Peter Paul Rubens made a drawing of a man wearing a Korean costume. This drawing has been considered noteworthy since it was made: could Rubens have actually encountered a particular Korean man who sailed to Europe, or did he instead draw a model wearing Korean clothing? This mysterious depiction was acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and recently became the object of a special exhibition. This book accompanied the exhibition, and the five articles explore the various interpretations and meanings ascribed to this drawing over the centuries. It is an excellent example of how art history, intercultural history, and research on textiles can be interwoven.

In the first chapter, Stephanie Schrader, who is also the editor of the book, gives an overview of the old and new interpretations of the many identities of Rubens's Man in Korean Costume. In fact, it was only in 1935 that the costume in the drawing was identified as being Korean, and this identification has been repeated in every publication since then. This chapter also includes several theories about Korean or Siamese visitors to Europe who may have worn this garment, though Schrader doubts that Rubens met such a person. In the next chapter, Kim Young-Jae analyzes the style of the clothing as represented in the drawing and confronts it with the Chosŏn-era styles. She concludes that although it is probable that the figure in Rubens's drawing wears a dapho and cheollik from the early Chosŏn, the drawn garments do not document Chosŏn-era styles. In the third chapter, Stephanie Schrader puts the drawing into a wider context, linking it to Rubens's drawings of the Jesuit missionaries Nicolas Trigault and Johann Terrenz Schreck, made around the same time, and to his painting The Miracles of St. Francis Xavier, in which the Korean man appears again. In the following chapter, Burglind Jungmann analyzes the appearance of European elements in Korean paintings and shows the fascinating process of “cultural translation,” since the Korean adaptation of thought, visual elements, and painting techniques from Europe happened partly via the Jesuits in China. Finally, Christine Göttler looks at the place of the “exotic” in early seventeenth-century Antwerp, especially on the basis of the painting The Archdukes Albert and Isabella Visiting a Collector's Cabinet by Hieronymous Francken II and Jan Brueghel the Elder, two Flemish painters who were contemporaries of Rubens.

First, the beautiful visual character of the book should be underscored: looking at the reproductions of the paintings and drawings in this book is a pure delight. Those who are acquainted with the topic will appreciate that all visual materials related to the subject are reproduced, some even several times in close-ups. To my knowledge, this is the first time that the collection of these sources is so complete. The same comprehensiveness can be found in the text, especially the articles by Schrader, which include an overview of all the different interpretations that have been given for the representation. The interaction between the different disciplines that are involved, but also the constant global displacements of the subject from Europe to the East and back to Europe, make the book an example of interdisciplinary and interconnected research.

Still there is one regret: Schrader rightly points out that “this powerful work of art prompts many more questions than it answers. The various mythologies constructed around the Getty drawing from the seventeenth century to the modern day constitute a remarkable blend of fact and fantasy as well as understanding and misunderstanding about Rubens, the artists, and Asia, his subject” (p. 20). The alternative interpretative paradigm proposed by the authors is “exoticism,” which in fact is not really explained. It certainly has a lot to do with “imagination,” as Schrader is of the opinion that “Rubens portrayed a figure in a Korean costume the way his seventeenth-century European audience most likely would have imagined him—as alluringly exotic and foreign, a wonder to behold but defying categorization” (p. 20; see also p. 54: “In this vein, his Man in Korean Costume presents the artist's idea of an Asian foreigner, not a portrait of one.”). One finds similar interpretations in other articles, for example, on the costume: “[Rubens] shows an imaginative interpretation of Korean costume, breathing vitality to exotic, never-before-seen attire” (p. 37). Certainly, there is an exotic aspect to the various depictions made by Rubens, but when the authors stress over and over again the “exotic” character of the drawings, the reader simply wonders whether they are not creating a new mythology constructed from our own imagination of what is “exotic.” Maybe, in front of this mysterious man, instead of providing new answers, one could have left open the questions, even considering that Rubens saw a real man wearing these particular garments, of which no other traces are left than this drawing. I do not have alternative answers to the questions myself, therefore I strongly recommend to continue “looking east,” as Rubens and the authors of this book nicely did.