Abstract
This Self-portrait at the easel has received little attention in the literature despite, or perhaps thanks to, the fact that Rembrandt’s authorship has, in our view correctly, never been doubted. It is the first of the late self-portraits in which Rembrandt depicted himself with painter’s tools. He placed greater emphasis on these implements in this likeness than in his other self-portraits, where he sometimes painted them out. This entry focuses attention on this aspect as well as on Rembrandt’s characteristic working method in the production of this painting, which can be easily followed due to the paint surface’s worn condition.
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Notes
Van de Wetering 1997, p. 252.
P. Meyers, M.W. Ainsworth and K. Groen, ‘Pigments and other painting materials’, in: Art and autoradiography: insights into the genesis of paintings by Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Vermeer, New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) 1982, pp. 101–104, esp. 103.
Van de Wetering 1997, pp. 146–147.
Sumowski Gemälde II, no. 749.
H. Hondius, Pictorum aliquot celebrium praecipue Germaniae inferioris effigies, The Hague 1610. In it, see especially the portraits of Pieter Aertsen (no. 30), Anthonis Mor (no. 37), Cornells Visscher (no. 42), Otto van Veen (no. 59), Cornells Cornelisz. (no. 63), Frans Badens (no. 65), Adam Elsheimer (no. 69) and Gerrit Sweelinck (no. 70). See also: H.-J. Raupp, Untersuchungen zu Künstlerbildnis und Künstlerdarstellung in den Niederlanden im 17. Jahrhundert, Hildesheim 1984, pp. 36-39.
Chapman 1990, pp. 95–97.
J.A. Emmens, Rembrandt en de regels van de kunst, Utrecht 1968, esp. pp. 30–38, 42, 45–48, 67–69, and 73–75.
H. Miedema, [review of] J.A. Emmens, ‘Rembrandt en de regels van de kunst’, O.H. 84 (1969), pp. 249–256, esp. 252–255.
A. Hulftegger, ‘Formation des collections de peintures de Louis XIV’, Bulletin de la société de l’histoire de l’art français 1954-55, pp. 124–134, esp. 133–134.
J. Guiffrey, Comptes des Bâtiments du Roi sous le Règne de Louis XIV, vol. 1, Paris 1881, col. 553.
A. Brejon de Lavergnée, L’inventaire Le Brun de 1683. La collection des tableaux de Louis XIV, Paris 1987, p. 336 (no. 318).
Brejon, op. cit.15. See also: A. Schnapper, Curieux du grand Siècle. Collections et collectionneurs dans la France du XVIIe Siècle. II Oeuvres D’art. Paris 1994, pp. 69, 271-272.
J. Vilain and J. Foucart in: exhib. cat. Le siècle de Rembrandt. Tableaux hollandais des collections publiques françaises, Musée du Petit Palais, Paris 1970/71, pp. 186–89. Later repeated in: J.Foucart, Les peintures de Rembrandt au Louvre, Paris 1982, p. 72.
No. 123: ‘Portrait de Rimbrands, ayant un linge blanc autour de sa teste, (HALF!) figure grande comme le naturel, de luy-mesme. 100 livfres].’ M. vicomte de Grouchy, ‘Everhard Jabach, collectionneur Parisien’, Mémoires de la Société de l’Histoire de Paris et de l’Ile-de-France 21 (1894), pp. 216–292, esp. 255.
See: Everhard Jabach, collectionneur Parisien’, Mémoires de la Société de l’Histoire de Paris et de l’Ile-de-France 21 (1894) De Grouchy, op. cit.18. For instance, the inventory includes the paltry amounts of 50 livres for originals by Rubens (a life-size Susanna, p. 275) and by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (a winter landscape, p. 261). Originals by Holbein are assessed at 125 livres (p. 253). Moreover, the prices of the copies differ greatly: copies after Titian are listed for a mere 20 or 30 livres, while copies after other Italian masters are valued at 150 livres. In contemporary French inventories can be noted a great price difference for (purported) Rembrandts. Among the paintings in the marriage portion of the painter Hyacinthe Rigaud of 17 May 1703 there were seven originals by Rembrandt, varying in price from 80 to 800 livres. HdG Urk., no. 387. In the inventory of Catharine Coutard, wife of Charles Aubrey, of 22 December 1728 a painting on canvas is described as follows: ‘représentant le portrait de Rembrandt, original; bordure de bois dor‘e’ estimated at 300 livres. D. Wildenstein, Inventaires après décès d’artistes et de collectionneurs Français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1967, p. 84.
H. Foccilon, ‘A propos d’une copie de Rembrandt par Fantin-Latour’, Beaux-Arts (1923), pp. 248–249.
HdG 569; A. Brejon and J. Foucart, Catalogue sommaire illustré des peintures du Musée du Louvre, Paris 1979, vol. 1, p. 111.
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© 2005 Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project
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(2005). Self-portrait at the easel. In: A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. Rembrandt Research Project Foundation, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4441-0_24
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