REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN (1606-1669)

Rembrandt's acute sense of observation of the human face was one of the keystones of his art. The human face - and his own face in particular, which he etched no fewer than thirty-two times in a printmaking career that stretched over three decades - became the very source for his study of human emotions and expressions. His quickly observed sketches of head and faces would have served him and his pupils as models to render feelings, humanity and naturalness in mythological, allegorical, genre and biblical scenes.
In 1630, Rembrandt etched a series of studies of expression based on his own mirror image. In the present print, the artist's expression is one of surprise and amazement, reinforced by the position of the tilted up head, seen slightly from below. A very similar expression, possibly derived from the present portrait, reappears in his etching The Raising of Lazarus (NH 113), on the figure opposite to Christ on the right, created only slightly later than the present self-portrait.