Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar

Rembrandt at fifty-three

In 1659, Rembrandt was fifty-three years old and had just gone through bankruptcy. His house and collections had been sold. In this self-portrait he wears a dark beret and a coat with a turned-up collar, and looks straight at us with tired eyes.

The painting belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, from the Andrew W. Mellon Collection.

A face built of thick paint

Rembrandt modelled his face with heavy, textured paint, almost sculpted on the canvas. Light falls from the upper left onto the forehead, nose and cheeks, while the rest of the figure sinks into brown shadow.

Eyes that hold our gaze

The eyes are slightly different from one another, under a furrowed brow. They give an impression of honesty and endurance. He does not flatter himself; the bags under his eyes and the lines of age are all there.

Hands barely seen

His clasped hands appear at the lower left, only suggested with a few strokes and almost lost in shadow. All attention is on the face.

After the bankruptcy

In 1656 Rembrandt was declared insolvent. His house on the Jodenbreestraat and his collection of art and curiosities were sold at auction. He moved to a smaller house in the Rozengracht in a poorer district. His partner Hendrickje Stoffels and his son Titus set up a business to employ him and protect him from creditors.

In the middle of these troubles, Rembrandt painted some of his most powerful self-portraits. They are honest images of a man facing difficulty with dignity.

The face as a landscape

The face is built up with thick layers of paint, worked and reworked. Wrinkles, folds and blemishes are modelled with heavy strokes. The face seems almost sculpted. Light falls from the upper left, leaving one side in shadow. The beret casts a shadow over the forehead, focusing attention on the eyes.

A pose from the Italian masters

Earlier, Rembrandt had studied famous Italian portraits, such as Raphael’s portrait of Baldassare Castiglione and Titian’s portrait of a man, which passed through Amsterdam. Their calm three-quarter poses influenced his self-portraits. In this painting, he adapts that noble pose to his own, older and more troubled face.

Where to see it

The self-portrait hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., part of the Andrew W. Mellon Collection. Our hand-painted oil reproduction follows this composition. For more portraits, explore our famous portraits, or read about Rembrandt’s late Self-Portrait with Two Circles.

Questions about Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar

When was it painted?

In 1659, when Rembrandt was fifty-three.

Where is it?

National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection.

Why does he look so tired?

It was painted shortly after his bankruptcy. Rembrandt painted himself with complete honesty.

How large is it?

About 84.5 × 66 centimetres, oil on canvas.

Where did Rembrandt live after his bankruptcy?

In a smaller house on the Rozengracht in Amsterdam.

Whose collection does it belong to?

The Andrew W. Mellon Collection at the National Gallery of Art.

Sources and image credit

• National Gallery of Art: Self-Portrait, 1659
• Wikimedia Commons: Self-Portrait (Google Art Project)

Public-domain reproduction of Self-Portrait (1659), via Wikimedia Commons (National Gallery of Art). Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.