![]() Rembrandt created nearly one hundred self-portraits, including over forty paintings, thirty-one etchings, and about seven drawings. This volume of self-portraits is high for any artist and represented around 10% of his body of work. Rembrandt outlived his wife, his later partner, and his son, and when he died, he was buried as a poor man in an unknown grave. Unfortunately, the returns from the sales were disappointing, and sill, in debt, Rembrandt was also forced to sell his house and his printing-press. The sale list survives and gives us a good insight into Rembrandt’s collections. Rembrandt lived beyond his means and twelve years before this painting he was forced to sell most of his pictures and his extensive collection of antiquities. So his self-portraits are in reverse to his real features. All of Rembrandt’s self-portraits were created by the artist looking at himself in a mirror. Rembrandt deliberately diminished the impact of the hands to draw attention to the face and the eyes. Rembrandt changed the positioning and drama of the hands to make them more subtle and clasped before him and without the brush. The initial position of the hands in this painting was more animated and dramatic, and one of the hands was holding a paintbrush. The most significant change was in the arrangement of the hands. The composition draws the viewer to the face and is confronted by his steady and resolute gaze. When this painting was X-rayed, it revealed alterations to the composition. The artist has depicted himself wearing a dark red coat and a beret, his hands clasped. ![]() Rembrandt employed his usual somewhat limited palette of lead white, ochres, and red flakes. Despite his impending death, Rembrandt presents a self-assured and confident self. This painting is one of his final pictures. ![]() “Self Portrait at the Age of 63” by Rembrandt was the last in his long series of self-portraits and painted in the year of his death. “Self Portrait at the Age of 63” by Rembrandt
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