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Lot Essay
Rembrandt always had a penchant for fancy dress and interesting headgear, some historic and exotic, some quotidian - berets, plumed hats, broad- and narrow-brimmed hats, fur caps – as this early, small self-portrait attests to. The print is signed with his initials RHL (‘Rembrandt Harmensz. Leidensis’) and dated 1631, the year he moved to Amsterdam. Whether he was still living and working in Leiden at the time he etched this plate cannot be said with certainty. By 1633 however, he was no longer using his initials, but signed with his full first name.
He has matured since his earliest self-portraits (see lots 1 and 2) and grown a proper moustache, where before there was only a bit of fluff on his upper lip, and is beginning to show an interest in depicting different textures in etching, such as the fur of his collar. The evocation of different surfaces and fabrics was a skill he would bring to absolute perfection in painting much earlier than in etching, with the extensive use of drypoint in prints such as Jan Lutma, Goldsmith (see lot 51) or Arnout Tholinx, Inspector (NH 294). It was certainly easier to achieve these effects in oil paint than in black ink only, as his portrait painting of the fur trader Nicolaes Ruts (Frick Collection, New York) of the very same year, 1631, demonstrates.
This small print is also an early example of Rembrandt’s very effective use of blank paper, in that he left part of the collar and his neck white and undefined, thereby creating contrast and tension.
The Self-Portrait in a heavy Fur Cap: Bust exists in one state only. The present impression is printed with a light veil of plate tone, and the smoky vertical band of wiping marks across the left part of the figure adds atmospheric shading to the image.
He has matured since his earliest self-portraits (see lots 1 and 2) and grown a proper moustache, where before there was only a bit of fluff on his upper lip, and is beginning to show an interest in depicting different textures in etching, such as the fur of his collar. The evocation of different surfaces and fabrics was a skill he would bring to absolute perfection in painting much earlier than in etching, with the extensive use of drypoint in prints such as Jan Lutma, Goldsmith (see lot 51) or Arnout Tholinx, Inspector (NH 294). It was certainly easier to achieve these effects in oil paint than in black ink only, as his portrait painting of the fur trader Nicolaes Ruts (Frick Collection, New York) of the very same year, 1631, demonstrates.
This small print is also an early example of Rembrandt’s very effective use of blank paper, in that he left part of the collar and his neck white and undefined, thereby creating contrast and tension.
The Self-Portrait in a heavy Fur Cap: Bust exists in one state only. The present impression is printed with a light veil of plate tone, and the smoky vertical band of wiping marks across the left part of the figure adds atmospheric shading to the image.