.
I'm sorry, I got it all wrong. Scratch that last comment.
What this is, is a guy who's about to have a swordfight.
See the sword handle in the foreground?
But he's not HOLDING the sword,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, yet.
Alternatively, we don't know what his left hand is doing.
His left arm from the elbow down, is out of the picture.
But don't forget about his left shoulder, which droops.
Now, a drooping shoulder in a portrait like this has a
very important significance.
Either the artist was just goofy and had a twisted eye,
which is not reasonable because this man's face is nice
and straight without any drooping aspects on his left
side like his shoulder has, so for get that idea.
Or else the artist is subtly trying to tell us that this man
is right in the middle of a lunging motion with his body,
such as what he might do when grabbing his sword from
the fixture or rack that keeps it standing up like that.
If it were a scene from a Western, we could be thinking
that he's a lefty and he's right in the middle of a DRAW,
that is, of his holstered Colt .45!
But they didn't have doily collars like this in the Old West.
So we are left thinking that he's been insulted, and his
honor is at stake, and so, he is reaching out to grab his
sword there in front of him, and the right hand to his
chest is a position that a swordsman assumes at the
beginning of his swordfight.
And the hand that goes to the chest is the hand that
does NOT hold the sword.
Therefore, this man is sinistromanual, IOW a lefty.
If he's Spanish (and it looks as though he may well be)
and his middle name is "Manuel," then maybe his first
name is "Sinistro."
But seriously, beyond the drooping left shoulder we
have a very curious thing, which is a light or a glow
as if emphasizing the profile of the left shoulder and
arm, as if to say, "This is not a mistake -- look at the
posture of this left arm!!"
.