Self Portrait Wearing a Soft Cap: Full Face, Head only
Medium
portraits
Classification
portraits
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Bequest of George Campbell Cooper
Accession Number
1896-3-179
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Rembrandt van Rijn created this intimate self-portrait around 1634, during the early years of his successful career in Amsterdam. Already celebrated for his dramatic use of light and shadow, the Dutch master frequently turned to his own image as both subject and experiment. Over his lifetime he produced dozens of self-portraits in paint, drawing, and print, using them to explore changing expressions, costumes, and moods. The small, closely cropped format—showing only the head beneath a soft cap—invites viewers into a direct encounter with the twenty-eight-year-old artist. Such works reveal Re...