Past Exhibition

Rembrandt in the National Gallery of Art

Shown from the waist up, an older man with pale, peachy skin looks out at us with deep-set, gray eyes under a furrowed brow, in front of a sable-brown background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and his face turns to us. He has a faintly pink, bulbous nose, and his slightly sunken cheeks are shaded with gray. His peach-colored lips are framed with a wispy, gray mustache and goatee. Bronze-orange lines are incised within the battleship gray of his hair to create soft curls under his brown beret, which has gold trim around the base. The dark collar of his fawn-brown coat is turned up so his neck is covered. He is lit from the upper left, so his body and the right side of the painting are deeply shadowed. On our left, the canvas is painted with blended strokes of tawny and dark brown. His dark coat blends into the background, and his folded hands are in shadow in the lower left corner. The brushstrokes are visible in some areas, especially in the man’s face. The painting is signed and dated next to his shoulder, to our left, “Rembrandt f. 1659.”
Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1659, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.72

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    Main Floor, 4 galleries
Shown from the waist up, an older man with pale, peachy skin looks out at us with deep-set, gray eyes under a furrowed brow, in front of a sable-brown background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and his face turns to us. He has a faintly pink, bulbous nose, and his slightly sunken cheeks are shaded with gray. His peach-colored lips are framed with a wispy, gray mustache and goatee. Bronze-orange lines are incised within the battleship gray of his hair to create soft curls under his brown beret, which has gold trim around the base. The dark collar of his fawn-brown coat is turned up so his neck is covered. He is lit from the upper left, so his body and the right side of the painting are deeply shadowed. On our left, the canvas is painted with blended strokes of tawny and dark brown. His dark coat blends into the background, and his folded hands are in shadow in the lower left corner. The brushstrokes are visible in some areas, especially in the man’s face. The painting is signed and dated next to his shoulder, to our left, “Rembrandt f. 1659.”
Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1659, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.72

Overview: 23 paintings, 77 etchings, and 14 drawings were assembled from the Gallery's holdings to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the death of Rembrandt van Rijn. Under the guidance of Dr. Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, 1968-1969 Kress Professor and authority on Dutch paintings and prints, 4 Kress and Finley fellows contributed entries to the catalogue. The self-portraits from the Mellon and Widener collections were hung side by side for the first time.

Catalog: Rembrandt in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1969.

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