Rembrandt Self Portrait National Gallery

Rembrandt Self Portrait National Gallery

Rembrandt painted this self portrait in 1659 when he had suffered financial failure after many years of success. In that same year 1639 rembrandt etched a self portrait that was in part inspired by raphael s image and in part by titian s portrait then known as ariosto which was in amsterdam in the alfonso lopez collection national gallery london.

Meeting Rembrandt The Portraits Of A Master National Gallery

He had always used himself as a model but in the last twenty years of his life he painted self portraits with increasing frequency.

Rembrandt self portrait national gallery. His spacious house on the sint anthoniesbreestraat and other possessions had been auctioned the previous year to satisfy his creditors. 1944 from the national gallery london. The painting was cleaned in 1967 revealing the damaged signature and date.

Rembrandt painted and etched self portraits throughout his life but those executed in his final years in which he presents himself in a reflective mood are among the most poignant and challenging. Why did rembrandt paint himself so often. Rembrandt is 63 and this is one of three self portraits he painted in the months before his death in 1669.

This is one of dozens of self portraits by rembrandt. We see the artist in confident pose self assured dressed in expensive looking fur and velvet his hat laced with jewels. In 1663 hendrickje died after a long illness.

About 80 self portraits including sketches etchings and paintings survive from his 40 year career far more than any other painter of his time. Rembrandt titus and hendkrickje moved across town to a much poorer district where rembrandt continued to paint. Titus was left to look after his father.