Self-portrait
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
The only museum in the world to house more Rembrandt paintings than The Met is the Museum het Rembrandthuis (or "Rembrandt House") in Amsterdam. This man took the medium of oils to new heights, and new depths, if you will, as his masterly application of hundreds of layers of glazes gave his work remarkable and unsurpassed dimension. His lavishly rich golden-toned works seem to radiate light from within. Rembrandt van Rijn painted himself many times over the course of his life. This is one of his last self-portraits and his honest, unforgiving eye portrays himself warts and all. I am always particularly struck by the wisdom emanating from his well-worn face, and a knowing sense of his psychology in an age that predates the formal science of psychology by some 200-plus years.
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