Rembrandt Self-Portraits 
Zoe Zucco
Prof. Bertrand-Dewsnap
Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits Assignment
April 14, 2014
I chose 4 self-portraits of Rembrandt’s to discuss- his Self-Portrait in the Studio in 1628, his Self-Portrait with Saskia in 1635, his Self-portrait in 1658 and his Self-Portrait as Zeuxis in 1662. I chose these 4 because of their representation of how Rembrandt saw himself through the ages and how his style of painting evolved. In his first self-portrait in 1628 he shows himself in the background of the painting and not as important as the canvas and his work. He paints himself in the traditional frock that painters wore at the time and holding a maul stick and various brushes with his painting hanging on the wall. You can barely make out his face or any of his smaller features like fingers and eyebrows or things like that. He paints himself almost as an anonymous painter, hazy in the background while the large canvas is centered and in the front demanding attention. The self-portrait was done early in his career and shows he was probably not as confident as a painter and put all his focus into the work. The handling of the paint in regards to his own figure is very loose and hazy. In 1635 he starts painting himself in more detail and in his Self-Portrait with Saskia he paints himself with drunken, slurred facial features that are rosy in color. He shows himself no longer in a traditional painters frock but in the regular contemporary clothing of that era and really shows himself in a less serious manner where he is leaning back and raising his glass with a woman sitting on his lap, clearly having a good time and not as serious or tense. The colors in the painting are not as monotonous or heavy and the handling of the paint while it shows outline is loose. Another name for the piece is Self-Portrait with Saskia in the Parable of the Prodigal Son suggesting Rembrandt is the prodigal son out on the town with a prostitute and spending the money his father gave him on women and
Prof. Bertrand-Dewsnap
Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits Assignment
April 14, 2014
I chose 4 self-portraits of Rembrandt’s to discuss- his Self-Portrait in the Studio in 1628, his Self-Portrait with Saskia in 1635, his Self-portrait in 1658 and his Self-Portrait as Zeuxis in 1662. I chose these 4 because of their representation of how Rembrandt saw himself through the ages and how his style of painting evolved. In his first self-portrait in 1628 he shows himself in the background of the painting and not as important as the canvas and his work. He paints himself in the traditional frock that painters wore at the time and holding a maul stick and various brushes with his painting hanging on the wall. You can barely make out his face or any of his smaller features like fingers and eyebrows or things like that. He paints himself almost as an anonymous painter, hazy in the background while the large canvas is centered and in the front demanding attention. The self-portrait was done early in his career and shows he was probably not as confident as a painter and put all his focus into the work. The handling of the paint in regards to his own figure is very loose and hazy. In 1635 he starts painting himself in more detail and in his Self-Portrait with Saskia he paints himself with drunken, slurred facial features that are rosy in color. He shows himself no longer in a traditional painters frock but in the regular contemporary clothing of that era and really shows himself in a less serious manner where he is leaning back and raising his glass with a woman sitting on his lap, clearly having a good time and not as serious or tense. The colors in the painting are not as monotonous or heavy and the handling of the paint while it shows outline is loose. Another name for the piece is Self-Portrait with Saskia in the Parable of the Prodigal Son suggesting Rembrandt is the prodigal son out on the town with a prostitute and spending the money his father gave him on women and