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Title:Rembrandt (1606–1669) as a Young Man
Artist:Style of Rembrandt (Dutch, ca. 1630–35)
Medium:Oil on wood
Dimensions:8 5/8 x 6 1/2 in. (21.9 x 16.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Evander B. Schley, 1952
Object Number:53.18
Inscription: Inscribed (right): RL [monogram]
Leopold II, King of Belgium, Brussels (until 1909; sold to Kleinberger); [Kleinberger, Paris, 1909; sold to Morgan]; J. Pierpont Morgan, New York (1909–d. 1913); his son, J. P. Morgan, New York (1913–d. 1943; his estate, 1943; sold to Knoedler); [Knoedler, New York, 1943; sold to Pinakos]; [Pinakos, Inc. (Rudolf J. Heinemann), New York, 1943–at least 1944]; Evander B. Schley, New York (until d. 1952)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Hudson-Fulton Celebration," September–November 1909, no. 74 (as "Portrait of Himself," by Rembrandt, lent by J. Pierpont Morgan, New York).
Raleigh. North Carolina Museum of Art. "Rembrandt and His Pupils," November 16–December 30, 1956, no. 2 (as "Self-portrait," by Rembrandt).
Indianapolis. John Herron Art Museum. "The Young Rembrandt and His Times," February 14–March 23, 1958, no. 1 (as "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," by Rembrandt).
San Diego Fine Arts Gallery. "The Young Rembrandt and His Times," April 11–May 18, 1958, no. 1.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 10, 1995–January 7, 1996, no. 21.
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Rembrandt in America," February 19–May 28, 2012, not in catalogue.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Rembrandt in America," June 24–September 16, 2012, not in catalogue.
Wilhelm R. Valentiner. The Hudson-Fulton Celebration: Catalogue of an Exhibition Held in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1909, vol. 1, p. 75, no. 74, ill. opp. p. 75, as a self-portrait by Rembrandt, painted about 1628.
W. Roberts. "The King of the Belgians' Collection of Old Masters." Connoisseur 24 (August 1909), p. 207, as "Head and Shoulders of a Young Man" by Rembrandt, and painted about 1638; states that the collection of the king of Belgium was recently purchased by Kleinberger.
Byron P. Stephenson. "Great Dutch Artists." Evening Post (September 20, 1909) [reprinted in Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 4 (October 1909), p. 170, ill. p. 171], as painted in 1628.
Joseph Breck. "L'art hollandais à l'exposition Hudson-Fulton à New York." L'art flamand & hollandais 13, no. 2 (1910), p. 52, ill. p. 51 [published in Dutch in Onze Kunst 17 (January 1910), pp. 8–10, ill.], states that the style indicates a date of 1628.
C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. "Nieuw Ontdekte Rembrandts, II." Onze Kunst 22 (December 1912), p. 188, fig. 12, observes that it is not mentioned in earlier literature.
Wilhelm R. Valentiner. The Art of the Low Countries. English ed. Garden City, N.Y., 1914, p. 242.
C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. Ed. Edward G. Hawke. Vol. 6, London, 1916, pp. 277–78, no. 564.
Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Rembrandt wiedergefundene Gemälde. Stuttgart, 1921, pp. XV, 133, ill. p. 5, dates it about 1628/29 and connects it with an etching in the British Museum.
Abraham Bredius. "Wiedergefundene 'Rembrandts'." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, n.s., 32 (1921), p. 148.
Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Rembrandt Paintings in America. New York, 1931, unpaginated, no. 2, pl. 2, as "Self Portrait (Study)," probably painted in 1628; connects it with a pen drawing in the British Museum.
Kurt Bauch. Die Kunst des jungen Rembrandt. Heidelberg, 1933, p. 161, fig. 183.
A[braham]. Bredius. Rembrandt Gemälde. Vienna, 1935, p. 3, no. 10, pl. 10.
Wilhelm Pinder. Rembrandts Selbstbildnisse. Königstein, [1943], p. 21, ill. p. 13, calls it probably as early as 1630.
Jakob Rosenberg. Rembrandt. Cambridge, Mass., 1948, vol. 1, p. 241.
H. E. van Gelder. Rembrandt en zijn Portret. Amsterdam, [1948], pp. 6, 10, ill. p. 8, dates it about 1630.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 81.
W. R. Valentiner. Rembrandt and His Pupils. Exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art. Raleigh, 1956, p. 18, no. 2, ill.
Kurt Bauch. Rembrandt Gemälde. Berlin, 1966, p. 16, pl. 293.
Fritz Erpel. Die Selbstbildnisse Rembrandts. Vienna, 1967, pp. 18, 143, no. 13, pl. 10.
Paolo Lecaldano inL'opera pittorica completa di Rembrandt. Milan, 1969, p. 94, no. 31, ill.
Horst Gerson, ed. Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings.. By A[braham]. Bredius. 3rd ed. London, 1969, p. 547, no. 10, ill. p. 9, is not convinced by the attribution to Rembrandt.
Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, p. 172 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].
J. Bauch. Letter to John Brealey. November 30, 1977, gives 1608 as the earliest possible felling date for the tree from which this panel was made, and observes that the wood could have been made into a panel from about 1613 onwards.
J. Bolten and H. Bolten-Rempt. The Hidden Rembrandt. Milan, 1977, p. 174, no. 60, ill.
Christopher Wright. Rembrandt: Self-Portraits. London, 1982, pp. 21, 40, no. 10, ill. p. 21 and pl. 18.
J[osua]. Bruyn et al. A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. Vol. 1, 1625–1631. The Hague, 1982, pp. 650–53, no. C38, ill. (overall and x-ray), as an imitation, painted "well after 1630 and definitely before 1790"; reproduces an engraving after the picture by J. F. Schröter (in reverse).
Pascal Bonafoux. Rembrandt: A Self-Portrait. Geneva, 1985, p. 144, ill. p. 36 (color), accepts by Rembrandt.
J[osua]. Bruyn et al. A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. Vol. 2, 1631–1634. The Hague, 1986, p. 855, no. C38, as possibly derived from the "Bust of Rembrandt" in Paris "before the latter was drastically changed by extensive overpainting".
Paul Jeromack. "Être Rembrandt ou ne plus l'être." Connaissance des Arts no. 441 (November 1988), pp. 108–9, ill. (color).
Walter Liedtke inRembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, "Paintings, Drawings, and Prints: Art-Historical Perspectives."New York, [1995], pp. 89–90, no. 21, ill. (color), as in the style of Rembrandt; dates it about 1660 or later.
Hubert von Sonnenburg. Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, "Paintings: Problems and Issues."New York, 1995, pp. 28, 30.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 320, ill., as "Rembrandt (1606–1669) as a Young Man," Style of Rembrandt, 17th century or later.
Catherine B. Scallen. Rembrandt, Reputation, and the Practice of Connoisseurship. Amsterdam, 2004, p. 361 n. 63.
Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), p. 28.
Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 2, pp. 708–12, no. 161, colorpl. 161, attributes it to "someone in Rembrandt's immediate circle about 1630–35".
There is a poor copy of this picture on panel, 23 x 20 cm, current location unknown (photograph in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague).
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