Self-Portrait with Raised Sabre
Medium
etching with touches of drypoint on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed within plate mark): 12.2 x 9.9 cm (4 13/16 x 3 7/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.7257
Art Historical Context
In 1634, at the height of his early career in Amsterdam, Rembrandt van Rijn created *Self-Portrait with Raised Sabre*, a striking etching with subtle touches of drypoint on laid paper. Measuring just 12.2 x 9.9 cm, this intimate print captures the artist in a dynamic, almost theatrical pose—brandishing a sabre with fierce intensity, his face shadowed yet boldly lit. Rembrandt, a master of the Dutch Golden Age and Baroque style, produced over 80 self-portraits throughout his life, using them to explore identity, emotion, and light with unparalleled psychological depth. The medium is key to its...
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...