Old Man with a Gold Chain
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
83.1 × 75.7 cm (32 3/4 × 29 3/4 in.); Framed: 105.1 × 99.5 cm (41 3/8 × 39 3/16 in.)
Classification
oil on panel
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
95998
Art Historical Context
In the hallowed halls of the Art Institute of's Painting and Sculpture of Europe department, Rembrandt van Rijn's *Old Man with a Gold* (1631) stands as a masterful early portrait. Painted in oil on panel—a durable medium favored by Dutch Golden Age artists for its smooth surface and fine detail—this 83.1 × 75.7 cm work captures an elderly man in opulent attire, adorned with a gleaming gold chain that evokes Renaissance grandeur. At just 25 years old, Rembrandt, already a prodigy from Leiden, demonstrated his precocious genius in this bust-length study. Rembrandt's Baroque style shines throug...
About the Artist
Rembrandt van Rijn · 1606–1669
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) stands as one of the greatest visual artists in the history of Western art and the most important Dutch painter of the 17th century. Born in Leiden to a prosperous miller's family, Rembrandt transformed painting through his revolutionary use of light and shadow, his psychological depth in portraiture, and his elevation of etching to a fine art. His approx...