REMBRANDT VAN RYN (1607-1669) PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF Canvas, 41 1/2 inches by 51 1/2 inches

REMBRANDT, seated with a stick in his left hand, about fifty years old, seated facing and looking at the spectator. In a full yellow gaberdine, with a red sash, a brown cloak with white neck-cloth, and gold embroidered shoulder straps. On his head he wears a dark cap under which a brown skull cap is visible. He has a short mustache. In his left hand he holds a stock, with a solver know, dark background." —Quoted from Dr. Bode's "Rembrandt," Vol. VI., p. 88, No. 428.

Dr. Bode calls this the most dignified of all Rembrandt's portraits. "The attitude and expression," he says, "are so imposing, so full of distinction and calm, that we might rather suppose the work to represent some commercial magnate of Amsterdam, such as the President of the East India Company, than one fo the poorest artist of the city."

"In this portrait," says Mr. C. J. Holmes, the well-known art critic, "Rembrandt has withdrawn himself into this world of his own creation, and sits there in state, clad in rich, easy robes, like an aged prince on a throne, looking out on humanity with the piercing eyes of profound knowledge and infinite experience. The troubles and disasters of his terrestrial life, bereavement, the neglect of his contemporaries, bankruptcy, poverty, have no place here—he is a king in his own kingdom, and these calamities of his material existence leave him unmoved and unaltered, except in so far as their impact in the past has left is mark upon the rugged face."

Exhibited in British Institute, 1815; British Gallery, 1824; Burlington House, 1889.

Signed on the knob of the chair, "Rembrandt f. 1658." Collection: Earl of Ilchester, Melbury Park, England.

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