Completed in 1665 and now part of the Iveagh Bequest, at Kenwood House, London, this is one of Rembrandt’s most famous and haunting self-portraits, offering an intimate visual rendering of the ageing artist. In the canvas, the face is fully worked up with layers of paint, whilst the body is thinner in paint and the hands are barely indicated at all. Except for the painting of the head, there is very little modelling and no foreshortening. The mysterious circles on the wall suggest the impression of a composition conceived as a surface design. The painting is in fact an unfinished work, which has not been signed or dated.
Unlike the artist’s earlier experimentations with tronie paintings, which tended to represent excessive facial emotions, the artist now expresses a maturer approach to self-portraiture, where the forms are flatter and the facial expressions more passive. The artist now presents himself as a mournful presence, with no trace of humour. Rembrandt presents himself to be in essence what he fundamentally was: an artist, holding the tools of his trade, gazing out at the viewer with a sombre, contemplative attitude.