The dozen or more self-portraits that date from each decade of Rembrandt's career vary considerably in composition, expression and technique. In the late examples, the broad applications of paint convey a candid record of the artist's aging features.

This picture bears an autograph signature and date of 1660. In the summer of that year, the artist turned fifty-four years old. The painting is in good condition, especially in the face, which reveals remarkable quality and candor. Originally, the bust and hat must have imparted a stronger sense of volume, consistent with that still found in the head.

Rembrandt painted the hat over a smaller cap. The flat impression now made by the hat is not, however, the consequence of that repainting (which occurred at an early moment in the course of work) but of natural darkening in the area. Some indications of folds and other modeling in the hat are discernible in autoradiographs. In the coat or gown, the gray ground shows through in areas and there are signs of heavy overcleaning in the brown paint layer. Thus, what might be taken as a very sketchy handling of the bust is misleading. While the painter's work clothes were indeed broadly brushed, with many strokes of color suggesting local highlights, the bust as a whole would have appeared well-rounded, with a consistent fall of light from the upper left, lending substance to the loose folds descending from the shoulders. The fullness of the material suggests a long gown, worn over a doublet with a turned-up collar and a red waistcoat.

Of the approximately forty painted self-portraits by Rembrandt known today, the three-quarter-length standing self-portrait in Vienna, dating from eight years earlier, could be considered the first in which he presents himself in work clothes and, at the same time, with a forthright and confident expression that evokes no other role than that of an artist in his studio. Variations on this theme followed during the 1650s, with the most analogous to this work being the so-called Small Self-portrait of the mid- to late 1650s in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, which is probably cut down; the self-portrait of 165[9?] in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh; the self-portrait dated 1659 in the National Gallery of Art, Washington; and, despite its more inclusive composition, the Self-portrait at the Easel, dated 1660, in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.

[2011; adapted from Liedtke 2007]

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Rembrandt / f.1660

duc de Valentinois, Paris; Admiral William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, London and Mayfield (until d. 1825; his estate sale, Christie's, London, May 13, 1826, no. 31, for £299.5 to Baring); Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, London (1826–d. 1848); the Barons Ashburton, London (1848–89); Francis Denzil Edward Baring, 5th Baron Ashburton, London (1889–1907; sold to Sulley?); [Sulley and Co., London]; [Sedelmeyer, Paris, until 1909; sold to Altman]; Benjamin Altman, New York (1909–d. 1913)

London. British Institution. June 1829, no. 10 (lent by Alexander Baring).

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Winter Exhibition," 1890, no. 145 (lent by Lord Ashburton).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of Rembrandt," January 21–?, 1942, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rembrandt," 1952, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Portrait of the Artist," January 18–March 7, 1972, no. 8.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 10, 1995–January 7, 1996, no. 15.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.

John Smith. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. 7, London, 1836, p. 86, no. 210, as engraved by Schmidt; gives provenance information.

G[ustav]. F[riedrich]. Waagen. Works of Art and Artists in England. London, 1838, vol. 2, p. 273.

G[ustav]. F[riedrich]. Waagen. "Kunstwerke und Künstler in England." Kunstwerke und Künstler in England und Paris. 2, Berlin, 1838, p. 86.

"Visits to Private Galleries." Art-Union 9 (April 1, 1847), pp. 122–23.

[Gustav Friedrich] Waagen. Treasures of Art in Great Britain. London, 1854, vol. 2, p. 103, no. 2.

Wilhelm [von] Bode. Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei. Braunschweig, 1883, pp. 543, 585, no. 189.

Eugène Dutuit. Tableaux et dessins de Rembrandt. Paris, 1885, pp. 42, 61, 70, no. 168.

Alfred von Wurzbach. Rembrandt-galerie. Stuttgart, 1886, text vol., p. 56, no. 145.

Émile Michel. Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, and His Time. English ed. New York, 1894, vol. 2, p. 234, erroneously dates it about 1658.

Malcolm Bell. Rembrandt van Rijn and His Work. London, 1899, pp. 82, 143, erroneously as unsigned and undated.

Wilhelm [von] Bode with the assistance of C. Hofstede de Groot. The Complete Work of Rembrandt. 6, Paris, 1901, p. 13, no. 429, pl. 429, calls it "Bust of Rembrandt in a Greenish Coat" in text and "Rembrandt in a Brown Coat" in catalogue entry.

Émile Michel. Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, and His Time. [3rd ed.]. London, 1903, pp. 337–38, 431.

E. W. Moes. Iconographia Batava: Beredeneerde Lijst van Geschilderde en Gebeeldhouwde Portretten van Noord-Nederlanders in Vorige Eeuwen. 2, Amsterdam, 1905, p. 315, no. 6693-61.

Adolf Rosenberg. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1906, ill. p. 338.

Adolf Rosenberg. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. 3rd ed. Stuttgart, 1909, p. 562, ill. p. 411, as possibly a pendant to the portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels (now MMA 26.101.9).

Illustrated Catalogue of the Eleventh Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters . . . Paris, 1911, p. 30, no. 24, ill.

Handbook of the Benjamin Altman Collection. New York, 1914, pp. 26–27, no. 17.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. "The Rembrandts of the Altman Collection: I." Art in America 2 (August 1914), p. 361.

C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 6, London, 1916, p. 277, no. 562.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Rembrandt wiedergefundene Gemälde. Stuttgart, 1921, p. 126.

Alan Burroughs. "Rembrandts in the Metropolitan Museum." The Arts 4 (November 1923), pp. 270–72, ill.

D. S. Meldrum. Rembrandt's Paintings. London, 1923, p. 199, pl. CCCXLII.

François Monod. "La Galerie Altman au Metropolitan Museum de New-York (2e article)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 5th ser., 8 (November 1923), p. 306.

Gustav Glück. "Rembrandts Selbstbildnis aus dem Jahre 1652." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, n.s., 2 (1928), p. 328.

Alan Burroughs. "New Illustrations of Rembrandt's Style." Burlington Magazine 59 (July 1931), p. 10, pl. II-A, notes changes Rembrandt made to the composition.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Rembrandt Paintings in America. New York, 1931, unpaginated, no. 145, pl. 145.

Otto Benesch. Rembrandt, Werk und Forschung. Vienna, 1935, p. 65.

A[braham]. Bredius. Rembrandt Gemälde. Vienna, 1935, p. 4, no. 54, pl. 54.

Alan Burroughs. Art Criticism from a Laboratory. Boston, 1938, p. 155.

Julius S. Held. "Rembrandt: The Self-Education of an Artist." Art News 40 (February 1–14, 1942), p. 28, ill. p. 14 (detail).

William M. Ivins Jr. "The Art of Rembrandt." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 37 (January 1942), p. 3, ill. on cover.

Introduction by William M. Ivins Jr. The Unseen Rembrandt. New York, 1942, pls. 19–20 (overall and detail).

Wilhelm Pinder. Rembrandts Selbstbildnisse. Königstein, [1943], pp. 98, 100, 102, ill.

Margaret Breuning. "Metropolitan Re-Installs Its Treasures in Attractive Settings." Art Digest 18 (June 1, 1944), p. 5.

Josephine L. Allen. "The Museum's Rembrandts." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 4 (November 1945), p. 73, ill. p. 76.

D[irk]. Bax. Hollandse en Vlaamse Schilderkunst in Zuid-Afrika. Amsterdam, 1952, p. 22, mentions a copy after this picture in the Phillimore Museum [Gedenkmuseum Philmore Ives?] in Stellenbosch, South Africa (present whereabouts unknown).

Theodore Rousseau Jr. "Rembrandt." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 11 (November 1952), p. 86, ill. p. 83, as "in the current Rembrandt exhibition".

Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), p. 3, ill. p. 32.

Jakob Rosenberg. Rembrandt: Life & Work. rev. ed. London, 1964, p. 98.

Kurt Bauch. Rembrandt Gemälde. Berlin, 1966, p. 17, pl. 332.

Fritz Erpel. Die Selbstbildnisse Rembrandts. Vienna, 1967, pp. 51, 186, no. 99, pl. 59.

Horst Gerson. Rembrandt Paintings. Amsterdam, 1968, p. 503, no. 381, ill. p. 435.

A[braham]. Bredius. Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings. 3rd ed. London, 1969, p. 551, no. 54, ill. p. 50.

Julius S. Held. Rembrandt's "Aristotle" and other Rembrandt Studies. Princeton, 1969, p. 96, fig. 7.

Paolo Lecaldano in L'opera pittorica completa di Rembrandt. Milan, 1969, pp. 119–20, no. 381, ill.

Julius S. Held and Donald Posner. 17th and 18th Century Art: Baroque Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., [1972], p. 268, colorpl. 42.

C. M. Kauffmann. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings. London, 1973, vol. 1, p. 236, under no. 293, publishes a nineteenth-century copy.

Enrique Valdivieso. Pintura holandesa del siglo XVII en España. Valladolid, 1973, p. 354.

A. B. de Vries et al. Rembrandt in the Mauritshuis. Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands, 1978, p. 186.

Walter L. Strauss and Marjon van der Meulen. The Rembrandt Documents. New York, 1979, p. 454.

Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, p. 344, fig. 612 (color).

Maryan W. Ainsworth et al. Art and Autoradiography: Insights into the Genesis of Paintings by Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Vermeer. New York, 1982, pp. 70, 101, pls. 43–46 (overall, x-radiograph, and autoradiographs), discusses the recovery of the preliminary sketch through autoradiographs.

J[osua]. Bruyn et al. "1625–1631." A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. 1, The Hague, 1982, p. 229, under no. A21.

Christopher Wright. Rembrandt: Self-Portraits. London, 1982, pp. 32, 44, no. 50, pl. 90.

Pascal Bonafoux. Rembrandt: A Self-Portrait. Geneva, 1985, p. 151, ill. p. 119 (color).

Gary Schwartz. Rembrandt, His Life, His Paintings. New York, 1985, fig. 411 (color).

Jan Kelch. Der Mann mit dem Goldhelm. Berlin, 1986, p. 27, figs. 20–21 (overall and x-ray).

Christian Tümpel. Rembrandt: Mythos und Methode. Königstein, 1986, p. 428, no. A73, ill. p. 368 (color), as by an anonymous artist in Rembrandt's circle.

H. Perry Chapman. Rembrandt's Self-portraits: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Identity. Princeton, 1990, pp. 87–88, fig. 125.

Walter Liedtke. "Dutch Paintings in America: The Collectors and Their Ideals." Great Dutch Paintings from America. Exh. cat., Mauritshuis, The Hague. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1990, p. 48.

Pierre Cabanne. Rembrandt. [Paris], 1991, p. 152, no. 9, ill., dates it 1645.

Jeroen Giltaij in Rembrandt, His Teachers and His Pupils. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1992, pp. 161, 252, under no. 90.

Leonard J. Slatkes. Rembrandt: Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1992, p. 400, no. 266, ill. (color).

Wayne Franits. "Young Women Preferred White to Brown: Some Remarks on Nicolaes Maes and the Cultural Context of Late Seventeenth-Century Dutch Portraiture." Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 46 (1995), p. 409, fig. 9.

William Grimes. "An Enigma Sometimes Wrapped in a Fake." New York Times (October 1, 1995), ill. p. H1.

Walter Liedtke in "Paintings, Drawings, and Prints: Art-Historical Perspectives." Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2, New York, [1995], pp. 76–78, 86, 89, no. 15, ill. (color).

Hubert von Sonnenburg. "Paintings: Problems and Issues." Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1, New York, 1995, pp. 20–21, 25, 48, 54, 134, figs. 3 (view of Paintings Conservation studio), 14 (color detail), 15 (autoradiograph detail), 50 (color detail), 51 (x-radiograph detail), 167 (color detail).

Herbert Lank. "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship." Studies in Conservation 41, no. 2 (1996), p. 124.

Michael Kimmelman. "At the Met with Susan Rothenberg and Bruce Nauman." New York Times (February 21, 1997), p. C26, ill.

Edwin Buijsen in Rembrandt by Himself. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1999, pp. 202, 208, 211–12, 252 n. 219, no. 80, ill. (color).

Marieke de Winkel in Rembrandt by Himself. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1999, pp. 65–66.

Benjamin Binstock. "Review of Ref. Schama 1999." Art Bulletin 82 (June 2000), p. 362.

Christopher Wright. Rembrandt. Paris, 2000, p. 330, figs. 337 (color detail), 342 (color).

Ernst van de Wetering. "Thirty Years of the Rembrandt Research Project: The Tension Between Science and Connoisseurship in Authenticating Art." IFAR Journal 4, no. 2 (2001), p. 21.

Esmée Quodbach. "'Rembrandt's "Gilder" is here': How America Got its First Rembrandt and France Lost Many of its Old Masters." Simiolus 31, no. 1/2 (2004), p. 104.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. ix, 164; vol. 2, pp. 549, 669, 687–93, 762, 778, 782, 797 n. 10, no. 157, colorpl. 157.

Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), pp. 33, 35–36, 38, 70, figs. 37 (color), 40 (color, MMA Altman gallery photograph).

Blaise Ducos and Bruno Mottin et al. in Rembrandt: Three Faces of the Master. Exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, 2008, p. 83, fig. 50 (color).

Engraved by G. F. Schmidt.