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Self-portrait in a flat cap and embroidered dress
(c. 1642)
Medium
etching
Measurements
6.6 × 5.4 cm (sheet, trimmed within platemark)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1933
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
Rembrandt made some eighty painted, etched and drawn self-portraits over the course of his career – more than any artist before him. These images served a variety of functions at different points in his career. Some of Rembrandt’s earliest etchings are tiny plates in which he used his own face to explore the expression of emotion. From the 1630s he also used his own features in several tronies (character heads) in which he depicted himself in exotic or historicising costumes. In others his identity as a celebrated artist was important and these were made for the collector market of such images. Here, although Rembrandt wears a Renaissance slit doublet, the artist’s ageeing face is depicted without idealisation.
Artwork Details
Catalogue/s Raisonné
Bartsch 26; Hind 157; White & Boon 26; NHD 210 i/iii
Edition
1st of 3 states
Accession Number
20-4
Departments
International Prints / International Prints and Drawings
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest