Of intimate proportions, it embodies his unique mastery of self-examination. The one included in this sale is the third - the earliest in date of the three, and in some ways the most revealing. One of these, discovered and sold at Sotheby's in London in 2003, is in the Leiden collection in New York, while another is on long-term loan to the National Gallery of Scotland. These works document Rembrandt's enduring captivation with his own image throughout his career, from sketches of an ambitious and self-confident youth of 22, to detailed and sobering self-depictions of a careworn and prematurely aged old man of 63.Īlmost all of Rembrandt's painted self-portraits are by now in major museum collections, and only three are known to remain in private hands. The artist recorded his own physiognomy in some 80 paintings, etchings and drawings. This self-portrait is a fine example of Rembrandt's early portraits. London Art Week held a talk about portraits with An Van Camp, curator of 'Young Rembrandt', the ground-breaking exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, in the run up to LAW Digital (if you missed it, you can watch it online from next week). It is offered as part of Sotheby's cross-category evening sale and carries an estimate of £12-16m. Viewing is now open and Sotheby's star lot has just arrived in London - one of the last self-portraits by Rembrandt left in private hands.
Sotheby's 'Rembrandt to Richter' evening sale takes place on the 28th followed by Christie's Classic Week evening auction on the 29th of July. Bonhams has its antiquities auction on the 23rd July. The Exhibitor pages continue to show this summer's exhibitions. Self-portrait, half-length, wearing a ruff and a black hatĪlthough London Art Week was officially running from the 3rd to 10th July, the participating auction houses - Bonhams, Christie's and Sotheby's - are holding more sales later this summer, so LAW Digital remains very much open for business.