REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (LEIDEN 1606-AMSTERDAM 1669)
Self-Portrait in a Flat Cap
Signed and dated 1642Oil on panel | 70.3 x 58.8 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 404120
This self-portrait dates from the period of the artist’s greatest success, and he presents himself as confident, prosperous and faintly theatrical. He provides more information than necessary about the broadening nose, sagging flesh, tired eyes and resigned expression. Rembrandt’s work has helped us to recognise truth as the highest goal of portraiture; his contemporaries wanted something more flattering.