Self-Portrait with long bushy Hair: Head only

A fine example of the self-portrait sketches of the early years, this small print shows the artist's face more close-up and in greater detail than the previous lots. Once again, this is a study of emotional expression, this time one of sorrow rather than rage, with the eyes turned inwards instead of glaring at an imaginary opponent (see lot 2). The print is rare in all ten states and, studying their progression, Erik Hinterding concluded that this 'self-portrait reveals more ambition than the earlier studies of his face, since it is evident from the dimensions of the first state that Rembrandt had a half-length portrait in mind. It is also the first self-portrait that he worked out over several states, paying attention to minute details... In the rare first state he looks over his shoulder with a serious gaze' (Hinterding, 2008, no. 3, p. 44). Not happy with the rest of the composition, he subsequently cut the plate to focus on his head only.
The facial expression captured in this print may have inspired a hidden self-portrait in Rembrandt's painting of The Raising of the Cross, painted two years later, which is today at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.