Self-portrait at the age of 34

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Self-Portrait at the Age of 34
Rembrandt, Self Portrait at the Age of 34.jpg
Artist Rembrandt
Year1640
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions102 cm× 80 cm(40 in× 31 in)
Location National Gallery, London
AccessionNG672
B21, Self-portrait leaning on a Sill, etching, 1639, 2 states. The pose draws on portraits by Titian and Raphael, A Man with a Quilted Sleeve (NG, London) and Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (Louvre) respectively. Self portrait leaning on si 373x470.jpg
B21, Self-portrait leaning on a Sill, etching, 1639, 2 states. The pose draws on portraits by Titian and Raphael, A Man with a Quilted Sleeve (NG, London) and Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (Louvre) respectively.

Self-Portrait at the Age of 34 is a self-portrait by Rembrandt, dating to 1640 and now in the National Gallery in London. The painting is one of many self-portraits by Rembrandt, in both painting and etching, to show the artist in a fancy costume from the previous century. In this case specific influences in the pose have long been recognised from Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (now Louvre) and Titian's A Man with a Quilted Sleeve (in 2017 called Portrait of Gerolamo? Barbarigo ) in the National Gallery. Rembrandt saw both of these in Amsterdam, in his day the centre of Europe's art trade, and made a sketch of the Raphael, with its price. [2]

Contents

He had tried out a similar pose in an etching of 1639, Self Portrait, Leaning on a Stone Wall (B21), looking rather more rakish. [3]

The artist depicted himself at the height of his career, richly dressed and self-secure. [4] It is one of over forty painted self-portraits by Rembrandt. [5]

Painting materials

The scientific analysis of this painting by the scientists at the National Gallery in London [6] revealed the use of the following pigments by Rembrandt: lead white, bone black, charcoal black, ochres and vermilion. [7]

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References

  1. White, 170–171
  2. White, 173–174
  3. White, 170–171
  4. "Self Portrait at the Age of 34". National Gallery .
  5. White, 10
  6. Bomford, D. et al., Art in the making: Rembrandt, New edition, Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 70–74.
  7. Rembrandt, Self-Portrait at the Age of 34, ColourLex