Self Portrait



Rembrandt painted one of his many self-portraits in 1660, at the age of 54. He portrayed himself half length, standing at his easel, in dark interior lighting. About 310 years later, a photographic detail of this painting was used for the cover of a Rembrandt book, a copy of which I own. A couple of nights ago I did a drawing from it.

The original painting is at the Louvre. There is another Rembrandt self-portrait from that same year in New York, at the Met, that has a different feel to it. In the painting in the Louvre, the artist seems withdrawn, introspective. Whereas in the bust-length portrait in New York Rembrandt seems to address the viewer, the gaze is directed outward.

Along with slight changes in the forms of the face, the different headgear that the artist wears in each painting contributes to the effect. In the Louvre, he wears a small, folded white cap, which appears in other self-portraits that he painted at around that time. I think that this is an informal garment, worn around the house. In the other painting, at the Met, he wears a black hat with large brim that makes a bold, angled shape. I expect that this hat would be worn for social occasions, Drawing of the shapes of the facial features, notably the eyes, correspond in boldness and clarity with the hat design. The forms are firmer than in the Louvre portrait at his easel.

Here is a link to the painting in Paris: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Rembrandt%2C_Auto-portrait%2C_1660.jpg

And here is a link to the painting in New York: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Portrait_(Rembrandt,_Altman)#/media/File:Rembrant_Self-Portrait,_1660.jpg

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