Self-Portrait (?) with Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 13 × 10.6 cm (5 1/8 × 4 3/16 in.); Sheet: 13.2 × 10.6 cm (5 1/4 × 4 3/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
29226
Art Historical Context
In 1634, Rembrandt van Rijn, the Dutch Baroque master renowned for his dramatic use of light and shadow (chiaroscuro), created this intriguing etching titled *Self-Portrait (?) with Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre*. At just 13 × 10.6 cm, the intimate image captures the artist—or possibly a figure resembling him—in a plumed cap and holding a sabre pointed downward, evoking a sense of poised intensity and theatrical flair. This work belongs to Rembrandt's early maturity, a period when he was establishing himself in Amsterdam after moving from Leiden, experimenting boldly with printmaking. Etched o...
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...