98

Rembrandt van Rijn

(1606-1669)

Self Portrait in a Cap and Scarf with the Face Dark: Bust.

Etching, 1633.
Biörklund's third state (of 3); Usticke's third state (of 5); New Hollstein's third state (of 3). Trimmed on or just inside the plate mark. A superb, dark, richly-inked and early impression with no signs of wear, with crisp, partially inky plate edges, with the patch of tone slightly above and to the left of the "R" in the signature and with some of the horizontal scratches in the background around the head still distinct, consistent with the earliest impressions of this subject. Bartsch 17; Biörklund 33-G; Hollstein (White and Boon) 17; New Hollstein 120.
Plate: 5 1/8 x 4 1/8 in. (13 x 10.3 cm.)

  • Notes:
    Rembrandt etched some 30 self-portraits, with 27 singular images of himself and several others of himself in different guises or grouped with other portrait studies. This etching, created at the age of 27, two years after he had moved to Amsterdam from Leyden to establish himself as an independent artist, and just months before he married Saskia van Uylenburgh (the first cousin of the art dealer and print publisher Hendrick van Uylenburgh), is among Rembrandt's most introspective self-portraits. The dark shading covering much of his face, which rapidly disappears in later impressions, the deep-set eyes and the quiet, hunched pose lend it a reserved appearance, which is markedly different from the proud, well-lit, frontal poses of his subsequent self-portraits from the mid-to-late-1630s, as his stature as a foremost Dutch artist was rising.
  • Condition:
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October 30, 2025 10:30 AM EDT
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