great portraits #3
Rembrandt's 'Self-portrait with Beret' dates from around 1659, when the artist was in his early 50's. It is in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, so it's a painting I know quite well. In fact, I can't imagine visiting the gallery without spending some time in its presence, and I've often gone there for no other reason. Rembrandt painted and drew around 80 self-portraits and I've seen a few of them, particularly in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, but I have never seen one as beautifully painted and affecting as this. What I find strange is that it always reproduces badly. Even on a postcard the Titian (below) looks superb, but the Rembrandt, when it's copied, seems to lose its soul - as if the soft inner glow and the deep melancholy air of the original have evaporated. Maybe this is because in the corner of one eye there is a tiny hint of moisture, a suggestion of a tear perhaps, which you can only see close up.
Rembrandt's 'Self-portrait with Beret' dates from around 1659, when the artist was in his early 50's. It is in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, so it's a painting I know quite well. In fact, I can't imagine visiting the gallery without spending some time in its presence, and I've often gone there for no other reason. Rembrandt painted and drew around 80 self-portraits and I've seen a few of them, particularly in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, but I have never seen one as beautifully painted and affecting as this. What I find strange is that it always reproduces badly. Even on a postcard the Titian (below) looks superb, but the Rembrandt, when it's copied, seems to lose its soul - as if the soft inner glow and the deep melancholy air of the original have evaporated. Maybe this is because in the corner of one eye there is a tiny hint of moisture, a suggestion of a tear perhaps, which you can only see close up.
posted by alan at 9.4.05
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