Portrait of a Man
ArtistStudio of
Rembrandt van Rijn
(Dutch, 1606-1669)
Dateca. 1650
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 27 1/2 x 22 in. (69.9 x 55.9 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMusuem collection
Object number0.3171
Terms
- Man
- Black
- Brown
- White
Collections
On View
On viewLabel TextUnknown Dutch 17th century Portrait of a Man Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. This modest portrait of an old man was rediscovered in a review of Museum storage in 2003. Frameless and nearly forgotten since its arrival here in 1971 as a gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., the painting bears a partial inscription at the center right: Rem…, which immediately recalls the name of one of the greatest geniuses of the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age of painting, Rembrandt van Rijn. Though the signature was soon found to be a later addition to the portrait and, thus, not original, the painting's style, its dramatic treatment of light and shadow, and the sober characterization of the man portrayed seemed to share much with Rembrandt's art. At first glance, we assumed the painting was a later, 19th-century work done in imitation of Rembrandt and his school. But we resolved to pursue the matter further, and in spring 2004, at the invitation of the Painting Conservation and Scientific Research Departments at the National Gallery of Art, we sent the painting to Washington, D.C., to undergo a series of technical analyses in an effort to determine its approximate age and likely place of origin. The conservation staff at the National Gallery examined the portrait using a stereo microscope, ultraviolet and infrared light, X-radiography and X-ray fluorescence analysis (see illustration). They concluded that the painting's materials, technique, and physical condition were not only consistent with 17th-century Dutch painting of the Rembrandt era, but indicated that the work was likely produced by an artist working in Rembrandt's studio. Though we have not yet identified who, among Rembrandt's pupils, might have painted the portrait, we will continue to pursue the issue of authorship in the coming months. Caption for illustration (in the Chrysler gallery): The underlying paint layers revealed in this X-ray show that the artist altered the shape of the sitter's collar and beard slightly in the finished work.
ca. 1615