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Lot Essay
The initial idea conceived by Rembrandt for the present composition was a three-quarter length portrait - or rather a freely adapted self-portrait - of the imposing sitter, adorned with a splendid costume, his hand resting on the right hip, and the left on a lowered sabre. The pose, dress and exotic overtones recall the painted Self-Portrait as an Oriental of 1631 (Musée du Petit Palais, Palais, inv. no. PDUT925). The artist may have been dissatisfied with the overall result of the first state, given the very small number of impressions recorded. Only four are known in public collections. In the second state, the plate is cut down to an irregular oval, then these irregularities were evened out in the present third, final state. Paper evidence suggests a close proximity between the first two states; the third was reworked by the artist no later than 1535-1536.
Despite the successive attempts to identify the sitter as a military character, the author of the first Rembrandt’s catalogue raisonné, Gersaint, already recognized him as the artist wearing a Persian coat. The artist’s likeness is evident, but it was taken as a starting point to develop a different character. The wart added to the left of the nose, for example, was not part of Rembrandt's features. The whole image is a work of fiction, the sitter adorned in a plumed hat with a precious brooch, a Persian fur coat layered over a military gorget, and holding a sabre. Rembrandt had always had a fondness for extravagant headgear, exotic clothes and props - objects which later filled Rembrandt's large house on the Antoniesbreestraat and were listed in the inventory of 1656 - but it was only after his debut on the Amsterdam scene and with the use of larger plates, that the display of opulent and exotic garments became a prominent feature of his portraits. They may have served as a demonstration of personal style and virtuosity, a sort of business card to attract the favour of patrons or prospective buyers, as well as a way of evoking distant and exotic lands, for which there was a growing interest in Holland.
Even after the reduction of the plate, the present portrait conveys the artist's personality: with his eyes half-open and sporting a handsome moustache and goatee, he strikes a pose of swagger and self-assurance, but also playfulness, in his ornate Oriental dress.
Despite the successive attempts to identify the sitter as a military character, the author of the first Rembrandt’s catalogue raisonné, Gersaint, already recognized him as the artist wearing a Persian coat. The artist’s likeness is evident, but it was taken as a starting point to develop a different character. The wart added to the left of the nose, for example, was not part of Rembrandt's features. The whole image is a work of fiction, the sitter adorned in a plumed hat with a precious brooch, a Persian fur coat layered over a military gorget, and holding a sabre. Rembrandt had always had a fondness for extravagant headgear, exotic clothes and props - objects which later filled Rembrandt's large house on the Antoniesbreestraat and were listed in the inventory of 1656 - but it was only after his debut on the Amsterdam scene and with the use of larger plates, that the display of opulent and exotic garments became a prominent feature of his portraits. They may have served as a demonstration of personal style and virtuosity, a sort of business card to attract the favour of patrons or prospective buyers, as well as a way of evoking distant and exotic lands, for which there was a growing interest in Holland.
Even after the reduction of the plate, the present portrait conveys the artist's personality: with his eyes half-open and sporting a handsome moustache and goatee, he strikes a pose of swagger and self-assurance, but also playfulness, in his ornate Oriental dress.