Portrait of Charles Tobler

The present portrait Charles Tobler is psychologically compelling and equally captivating. While most of the young boys depicted by Kayyali appeared to be from the working class and often in a state of melancholia, the present portrait is evidently an elegant rendition of a noble child. The sitter, with his innocent angelic face, directly engages with the viewer; Kayyali subtly emphasises on the child's inner feelings of happiness and joy while he simultaneously alludes to his strict familial upbringing by depicting the boy holding a book. Yet the boy seems to be restless, as if desperate to go out to play.

The present work portrays more than just a child as it evokes the privileged lifestyle of foreign families living in Syria in the 1960s. The young boy thus becomes a metaphor for the New World and the American dream shared by thousands of Syrian civilians hoping to emigrate to the new continent, in search of a brighter future.