Self-Portrait

c. 1637

Rembrandt van Rijn

Artist, Dutch, 1606 - 1669

A man with a rounded nose and wide, soft jawline looks out at us in this almost square red-chalk drawing. The man’s shoulders angle to our right, and he turns his face to us, his heavy-lidded eyes shadowed under a floppy beret. His thin lips are closed, and he has a goatee. Curly hair frames his face, and one long lock falls over his right shoulder, to our left. A light-colored collar, perhaps lace, lies across his shoulders over a darker garment.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    red chalk

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 12.9 x 11.9 cm (5 1/16 x 4 11/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1943.3.7048

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Benesch 1973, no. 437

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

NGA Lessing Julius Rosenwald (Lugt Supp.1932d)

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1929

  • Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450-1500, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1929, no. 574.

1930

  • Prints and Drawings by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) from the Collections of Lessing J. Rosenwald, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, 1930.

  • Rembrandt Etchings: Lent by Mr. Lessing J. Rosenwald, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1930.

1936

  • Rembrandt and his Circle, Worcester Art Museum, MA, 1936, no. 60 (not shown at Art Institute of Chicago venue).

1947

  • Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Frans Hals and Rembrandt, Los Angeles County Museum, 1947, no. 1.

1953

  • Masterpieces of Graphic Art from the Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953-1954, no cat.

1956

  • Rembrandt, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Museum Boymans, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1956, no. 70.

1958

  • Drawings and Prints by Rembrandt, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1958, no cat.

1960

  • Rembrandt Drawings from American Collections, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, NY; and Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1960, no. 28, repro.

1962

  • Drawings from the National Gallery of Art Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1962, no cat.

1966

  • Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1966, no cat.

1969

  • Rembrandt in the National Gallery of Art [Commemorating the Tercentenary of the Artist's Death], National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, no. 28, 36, repro.

  • Rembrandt After Three Hundred Years: An Exhibition of Rembrandt and His Followers, Art Institute of Chicago; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Detroit Institute of Arts, 1969-1970, no. 111, repro.

1977

  • Seventeenth-Century Dutch Drawings from American Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Denver Art Museum; and Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX, 1977, no. 30, repro.

1978

  • Master Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, p. 54.

1982

  • Lessing J. Rosenwald: Tribute to a Collector, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1982, no. 15, repro.

1999

  • Rembrandt By Himself (Rembrandt Zelf), The National Gallery, London; Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen "Mauritshuis", The Hague, 1999-2000, no. 45.

2003

  • Rembrandt's Journey: Painter. Draftsman. Etcher, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago, 2003-2004, no. 80.

2006

  • Strokes of Genius: Rembrandt's Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Bibliography

1925

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt Handzeichnungen. New York, 1925: no. 662

1969

  • National Gallery of Art. Rembrandt in the National Gallery of Art: Commemorating the tercentenary of the artist's death. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1969: 36, no. 28, repro.

1973

  • Benesch, Otto. The Drawings of Rembrandt. 6 vols. London: Phaidon, 1973. (enlarged and edited by Eva Benesch from 1954-1957 ed.): no. 437

1977

  • Robinson 1977, 30.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 667, no. 1058, color repro.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, D.C., 1992: 320, repro.

1995

  • Alger, Sandra L.H. Games for Teaching Art. Portland, Maine, 1995: 17, 26, 45 (reproduced on each).

1999

  • White, Christopher, and Quentin Buvelot, ed. Rembrandt by Himself. Exh.cat. National Gallery, London, 1999: cat. no. 45 (repro.).

2009

  • Slive, Seymour. Rembrandt Drawings. Los Angeles, 2009: no. 1.9

Inscriptions

on verso notes in graphite

Wikidata ID

Q75194896

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