Self-Portrait, Leaning on a Stone Wall
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 6 5/16 x 6 5/16 in. (16 x 16 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of John J. Glessner III, 1947
Accession Number
47.142.1
Tags
About this artwork
This etching stands among Rembrandt's most celebrated self-portraits, demonstrating his unparalleled mastery of the printmaking medium and his lifelong exploration of self-representation. Created in 1639, during a period of professional success and personal confidence, the work shows the artist at age 33, leaning casually on a stone ledge in an informal, almost confrontational pose. The composition breaks with conventional portrait formats, presenting Rembrandt in working clothes with tousled ha...
About the Artist
Rembrandt (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...