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Rembrandt, 'Self Portrait at the Age of 63', 1669

Self Portrait at the Age of 63

About the work

Overview

This is one of three self portraits Rembrandt made just before his death in 1669. About 80 survive from his 40-year career, far more than any other artist of his time. He painted them for different reasons – to practise different expressions, to experiment with lighting effects, and also to sell to wealthy patrons and collectors.

In this one, Rembrandt is preoccupied with depicting the textures and colours of his own ageing face. The sagging fold beneath his right eye is made with the swirl of a heavily loaded brush. The blemishes on his forehead are formed of blotches of coagulated paint.

Many later writers and artists have interpreted this as intense, unflinching, existential honesty: Rembrandt coming to terms with the approach of death. But in the seventeenth century people had different ideas about self-analysis and how the mind works than we do now. Rembrandt’s motives may have been more straightforward – driven less by soul-searching, and more by a professional fascination with the challenges of his art.

In-depth

You are looking into the eyes of a man in the last year of his life. Rembrandt is 63 and this is one of three self portraits he painted in the months before his death in 1669. About 80 self portraits – including sketches, etchings and paintings – survive from his 40-year career, far more than any other painter of his time. Why did Rembrandt paint himself so often? And what was he thinking as he looked in the mirror?

Some self portraits, especially the earlier ones, were made to practise depicting different expressions and poses, or to experiment with lighting effects. Others – such as theone he painted aged 34 – were apparently intended to enhance his image as an artist. Sometimes he may have had an eye to the market, or even worked to a commission. At the time some wealthy patrons collected self portraits by artists.King Charles I owned several, including one by Rembrandt.

Here his intentions are not so clear. X-ray images show that Rembrandt did, at first, depict himself as an artist at work – hands open, holding what seems to be a brush. But he changed his mind, apparently to avoid distracting the viewer from the detail of his face. Indeed, it seems as though he has turned a spotlight on his features. The beam bounces off his high forehead and the tip of his nose; it catches on his mottled, pitted brow and the tufts of hair around his lips. By contrast, the dark, shadowy background is thinly painted, the texture of his robe and fur collar sketchy and his folded hands are blurred and indistinct.

It wasn’t only light effects that he used to emphasise his face. The paint here is different. It’s much thicker and more intensively applied; so much so that he appears to be modelling the skin in three dimensions. The sagging fold beneath his right eye is made with the swirl of a heavily-loaded brush. The blemishes on his forehead are formed of blotches of coagulated paint. He uses layers too: like skin, oil paint is semi-transparent, so Rembrandt builds up translucent layers and colours – the greys and whites, pinks, purples and pasty yellows which he sees in his own face.

The effect seems to be one of intense self-scrutiny, and many later writers and artists have regarded this, together with his other late self portraits, as part of a process of self examination – Rembrandt coming to terms with the approach of death, searching with unflinching honesty to know himself. In this portrait some see weariness and resignation in his dark, rheumy eyes, some a trace of self satisfaction, others the hint of a wry, knowing smile.

But, if we want to understand why Rembrandt made the painting we need to be careful. In the seventeenth century people had different ideas about self-analysis and how the mind works than we do now. And Rembrandt’s motives may have been rather more straightforward, driven less by soul-searching and more by a professional fascination with the textures, flaws and subtleties of the human flesh.

When he painted himself, he could study his reflection for as long as he liked – and with an intensity which might have been disconcerting for some of his clients, many of whom were the same age as him. So it seems as though Rembrandt was not only studying how time was ageing his own skin, he was perfecting how he might depict theirs. That mysterious look in his eye may not be one of existential angst, but that of a painter deeply engaged in the challenges of his art.

Want to find out more?
Delve deeper and explore the catalogue entry for this work.

Key facts

Details

Full title
Self Portrait at the Age of 63
Artist
Rembrandt
Artist dates
1606 - 1669
Date made
1669
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
86 × 70.5 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit
Bought, 1851
Inventory number
NG221
Location
Room 22
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
17th-century Dutch Frame

Provenance

In the collection of William van Huls in London; at his sale, London, 6 sqq. August 1722 (lot 22), it was bought by Thomas Brodrick, MP. At the latter’s death in 1730 it passed with other pictures to his brother, Alan, 1st Viscount Midleton. In the Midleton collection at Peper Harow; 5th Viscount Midleton sale, London, 31 July 1851 (lot 78), 10 gns, bought for the National Gallery.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

  • 2014
    Rembrandt: The Late Works
    The National Gallery (London)
    15 October 2014 - 18 January 2015
    Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
    12 February 2015 - 17 May 2015
  • 2016
    The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour: Rembrandt's 'Self Portrait at the Age of 63'
    Ulster Museum
    15 January 2016 - 13 March 2016
    Abbot Hall Art Gallery
    19 March 2016 - 15 May 2016
    Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
    21 May 2016 - 17 July 2016
  • 2017
    Rubens and Rembrandt
    The National Gallery (London)
    22 March 2017 - 6 August 2017
  • 2023
    Masterpieces from the National Gallery
    Shanghai Art Museum East
    17 January 2023 - 7 May 2023
    National Museum of Korea
    2 June 2023 - 9 October 2023
    Hong Kong Palace Museum
    22 November 2023 - 11 April 2024
    Chimei Museum
    2 May 2024 - 1 September 2024

Bibliography

  • 1851
    Christie, Manson & Woods,Catalogue of the Very Choice and Valuable Collection of Pictures… of the Right Hon. the Viscount Middleton, Deceased, London, 31 July 1851
  • 1893
    É. Michel,Rembrandt, sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps, Paris 1893
  • 1897
    W. von Bode and C. Hofstede de Groot,The Complete Work of Rembrandt, 8 vols, Paris 1897
  • 1907
    C. Hofstede de Groot,Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
  • 1907
    C. Hofstede de Groot,Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
  • 1933
    G. Vertue, 'Vertue Note Books, III',The Walpole Society, XXII, 1934
  • 1960
    Maclaren, Neil,National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
  • 1967
    G. Martin, 'A Rembrandt Self-Portrait from His Last Year',The Burlington Magazine, CIX/771, 1967, pp. 328, 354-5
  • 1968
    H. Gerson,Rembrandt Paintings, ed. G. Schwartz, Amsterdam 1968
  • 1978
    R. Hamilton,The Artist's Eye: Richard Hamilton (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 5 July - 31 August 1978), London 1978
  • 1982
    C. Wright,Rembrandt: Self-Portraits, London 1982
  • 1987
    B.P.J. Broos,Meesterwerken in het Mauritshuis, Den Haag 1987
  • 1988
    S. Alpers,Rembrandt's Enterprise: The Studio and the Market, London 1988
  • 1988
    D. Bomford et al.,Rembrandt (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 12 October 1988 - 17 January 1989), London 1988
  • 1989
    J. Mills and R. White, 'Paint Media Analyses',National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIII, 1989, pp. 69-71
  • 1990
    H.P. Chapman,Rembrandt's Self-Portraits: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Identity, Princeton 1990
  • 1991
    Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown,National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
  • 1991
    C. Brown, J. Kelch and P.J.J. van Thiel,Rembrandt: The Master and his Workshop (exh. cat. Gemäldegalerie SMPK at the Altes Museum, 12 September - 10 November 1991; Rijksmuseum, 4 December - 1 March 1992; The National Gallery, London, 25 March - 24 May 1992), New Haven 1991
  • 1993
    C. Tümpel,Rembrandt: All Paintings in Colour, Antwerp 1993
  • 1996
    P. Mitchell,Frameworks: Form, Function and Ornament in European Portrait Frames, London 1996
  • 1996
    J. Stückelberger,Rembrandt und die Moderne. Der Dialog mit Rembrandt in der deutschen Kunst um 1900, Munich 1996
  • 1998
    A. Sturgis,Faces, London 1998
  • 1999
    S. Schama,Rembrandt's Eyes, New York 1999
  • 1999
    C. White (ed.),Rembrandt by Himself (exh. cat. The National Gallery, London, 9 June - September 1999; Mauritshuis, 25 September 1999 - 9 January 2000), London 1999
  • 2000
    S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, 'Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606-Amsterdam 1669): De schilder, zijn leven, zijn vrouw, de min en het dienstmeisje',Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis, 1-2, 2000, pp. 2-40
  • 2001

    C. Baker and T. Henry,The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

  • 2002
    A. Wauschkuhn,Georg Simmels Rembrandt-Bild: Ein lebensphilosophischer Beitrag zur Rembrandtrezeption im 20. Jahrhundert, Worms 2002
  • 2002
    E. van de Wetering, 'The Various Functions of Rembrandt's Self-Portraits',Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis, 1-2, 2002, pp. 27-42
  • 2005
    J. Bruyn et al.,A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, Dordrecht 2005
  • 2005
    A. Bond and J. Woodall,Self Portrait: Renaissance to Contemporary (exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, 20 October 2005 - 29 January 2006; Art Gallery of New South Wales, 17 February - 14 May 2006), London 2005
  • 2007
    M.E. Wieseman and E. Greer,Dutch Painting: The National Gallery, London 2007

Frame

This seventeenth-century Dutch cabinetmaker’s frame accompanies Rembrandt’sSelf Portrait at the Age of 63. The ebony box frame has an upper moulded section with hollow, and a ripple moulding chamfered flat towards a flat frieze. The moulded inner section ends with a rippled sight edge. This frame has retained its original characteristics and has required no alterations since its acquisition by the National Gallery in 2009.

About this record

If you know more about this work or have spotted an error, pleasecontact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

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