This portrait is generally considered to be by Rembrandt, and is somewhat less uniformly thought to date from the 1650s. Both questions are made more difficult by the condition of the picture: the hands, the body, and the hat are badly abraded. The face is fairly well preserved.
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Title:Portrait of a Man
Artist:Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
Date:ca. 1655–60
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:32 7/8 x 25 3/8 in. (83.5 x 64.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1890
Accession Number:91.26.7
Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, Lansdowne House, London (by 1854–d. 1863); his son, Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne, Lansdowne House (1863–d. 1866); his son, Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, Lansdowne House (1866–83); [Agnew, London, 1883; sold for $25,000 to Weir for Marquand]; Henry G. Marquand, New York (1883–90)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Temporary Exhibition," April 1906, no. 27.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Hudson-Fulton Celebration," September–November 1909, no. 107.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of Rembrandt," January 21–March 29, 1942, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rembrandt," 1952, no catalogue.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Masterpieces of European Painting, 1490–1840," February 15–April 4, 1960, no. 21.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Painter's Light," October 5–November 10, 1971, no. 20.
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Dutch Life in the Golden Century," April 4–May 4, 1975, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 10, 1995–January 7, 1996, no. 20.
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.
[Gustav Friedrich] Waagen. Treasures of Art in Great Britain. London, 1854, vol. 2, p. 151, as in the library at Lansdowne House; calls it a "male portrait with a wide ruff, and very dark shadows; but hung too high for me to pronounce an opinion on it," by Rembrandt.
Wilhelm [von] Bode. Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei. Braunschweig, 1883, pp. 530–31, 588, no. 222, as a portrait of a man of about thirty-six years of age; dates it about 1660–62.
Eugène Dutuit. Tableaux et dessins de Rembrandt. Paris, 1885, pp. 46, 63, 70, no. 339.
Alfred von Wurzbach. Rembrandt-galerie. Stuttgart, 1886, text vol., no. 209.
"Donations of Works of Art in 1890." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art no. 21 (1890), p. 478.
Henry G. Marquand. Letter to the trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. April 17, 1890, lists a painting by Rembrandt among works he offers to donate to the museum.
Emile Michel. Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, and His Time. English ed. New York, 1894, vol. 2, p. 247, dates it about 1640.
Collection of Old Masters and Pictures of the English School in the New Eastern Gallery (Hand-book no. 10). New York, [1894], p. 19, no. 37.
Malcolm Bell. Rembrandt van Rijn and His Work. London, 1899, p. 184, no. 277, as painted about 1640.
Charles H. Caffin. "Pictures at the Metropolitan Museum." Harper's Monthly Magazine 104 (January 1902), p. 276, as painted in 1664.
Wilhelm [von] Bode with the assistance of C. Hofstede de Groot. The Complete Work of Rembrandt. Vol. 7, Paris, 1902, pp. 5, 52, no. 495, pl. 495, as "A Pale Young Man with Long Hair and a Broad-Brimmed Hat, His Left Hand in His Coat," aged about forty; finds the technique similar to the "Youth with a Black Cap and Long Curling Hair" (Leconfield Collection, Petworth); dates it between 1663 and 1666 in text and 1665 opposite plate.
Adolf Rosenberg. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1906, pp. 405, 579, ill. p. 382, accepts a date of about 1665.
Adolf Rosenberg. Rembrandt, des Meisters Gemälde. Ed. W. R. Valentiner. 3rd ed. Stuttgart, 1909, p. 579, ill. p. 507.
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. 108, no. 107, ill. opp. p. 108, dates it about 1665.
E[mil]. Waldmann. "Die Ausstellung Holländischer Gemälde des 17. Jahrhunderts in New York." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, n.s., 21, no. 4 (1910), ill. p. 75.
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, p. 354, no. 753, as signed in full and dated 1664 [sic].
John C. van Dyke. Rembrandt and His School. New York, 1923, p. 132, pl. XXX-118, attributes it to Maes.
D. S. Meldrum. Rembrandt's Paintings. London, 1923, p. 203, pl. CCCCXXXVI, as signed and dated 1664 [sic].
Alan Burroughs. "Rembrandts in the Metropolitan Museum." The Arts 4 (November 1923), p. 270, states that "though unsigned, one recognizes it as a Rembrandt".
William Howe Downes. "The Great Rembrandt Question." American Magazine of Art 14 (December 1923), p. 665.
Jacob Zwarts. "Het Echtpaar van 'Het Joodsche Bruidje' van Rembrandt." Onze Kunst 46 (January–June 1929), p. 19, ill. opp. p. 18.
Jac[ob]. Zwarts. The Significance of Rembrandt's "The Jewish Bride". Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 1929, p. 12, ill. opp. pp. 12 and 23 (overall and detail), suggests that the sitter is the same as in the so-called "Jewish Bride" (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), and by means of an egraving, attempts to establish that this man is Don Miguel de Barrios, a poet and member of the Spanish-Jewish circle in Amsterdam.
Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Rembrandt Paintings in America. New York, 1931, unpaginated, no. 163, pl. 163, as probably painted in 1664; mentions that it was formerly dated 1654, and attributes it to the last years of Rembrandt's activity.
A[braham]. Bredius. Rembrandt Gemälde. Vienna, 1935, p. 12, no. 277, pl. 277, states that the signature mentioned by Hofstede de Groot [see Ref. 1916] is no longer visible.
William M. Ivins Jr. "The Art of Rembrandt." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 37 (January 1942), p. 3.
Introduction by William M. Ivins Jr. The Unseen Rembrandt. New York, 1942, pls. 9–10 (overall and detail).
Josephine L. Allen. "The Museum's Rembrandts." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 4 (November 1945), p. 73, ill. p. 74.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 82.
Dorothy Weir Young. The Life and Letters of J. Alden Weir. Ed. Lawrence W. Chisolm. New Haven, 1960, pp. 159–60, publishes letters to Weir's family and correspondence with Marquand regarding the purchase of this painting.
Kurt Bauch. Rembrandt Gemälde. Berlin, 1966, p. 22, pl. 425, as probably painted about 1658–60.
Horst Gerson. Rembrandt Paintings. Ed. Gary Schwartz. Amsterdam, 1968, p. 501, no. 338, ill. p. 405, states that it "has gained allure through its recent cleaning" and agrees with Bauch's dating [see Ref. 1966] of around 1660.
Paolo Lecaldano inL'opera pittorica completa di Rembrandt. Milan, 1969, p. 120, no. 387, ill.
Horst Gerson, ed. Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings.. By A[braham]. Bredius. 3rd ed. London, 1969, p. 571, no. 277, ill. p. 212.
Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, pp. 74, 172 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].
Denys Sutton, ed. Letters of Roger Fry. New York, 1972, vol. 1, p. 255 n. 1 to letter no. 177 (March 2, 1906), lists it among works included in the 1906 exhibition.
Hubert von Sonnenburg in "Technical Aspects: Scientific Examination." Rembrandt After Three Hundred Years. Chicago, 1973, p. 86.
J. Bolten and H. Bolten-Rempt. The Hidden Rembrandt. Milan, 1977, p. 199, no. 485, ill., date it about 1658–60.
John Pope-Hennessy. "Roger Fry and The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Oxford, China, and Italy: Writings in Honour of Sir Harold Acton on his Eightieth Birthday. Ed. Edward Chaney and Neil Ritchie. London, 1984, p. 231, notes that the Museum owned "two right and two wrong Rembrandts" by 1905.
Gary Schwartz. Rembrandt, His Life, His Paintings. New York, 1985, p. 338, no. 393, ill. (color), dates it about 1660.
Christian Tümpel. Rembrandt: Mythos und Methode. Königstein, 1986, p. 430, no. A96, ill. p. 336 (color), attributes it to an unknown pupil of Rembrandt, about 1660.
Pierre Cabanne. Rembrandt. [Paris], 1991, p. 152, no. 13, ill., dates it 1660.
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. 88–89, 115, 126, no. 20, ill. (color), dates it about 1655–60.
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. 24, 53, 60, 108, 110, no. 20, figs. 64 (color detail), 65 (x-radiograph detail), 76 (cleaned state), 143 (x-radiograph), and ill. p. 109 (color), dates it about 1655–60.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 317, ill.
Herbert Lank. "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship." Studies in Conservation 41, no. 2 (1996), p. 125.
Paul Broekhoff and Michiel Franken. "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship." Simiolus 25, no. 1 (1997), p. 78.
Thomas Ketelsen inRembrandt, oder nicht? Exh. cat., Hamburger Kunsthalle. Vol. 2, "Die Gemälde."Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 2000, pp. 30, 40 n. 128, fig. 10.
Esmée Quodbach. "'The Last of the American Versailles': The Widener Collection at Lynnewood Hall." Simiolus 29, no. 1/2 (2002), p. 64.
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. 102.
Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), pp. 10–11, 28, 70, fig. 7 (color).
Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, p. ix; vol. 2, pp. 676–78, 782, 797 n. 10, no. 155, colorpl. 155.
Esmée Quodbach inRembrandt and His School: Masterworks from the Frick and Lugt Collections. Exh. cat., Frick Collection. New York, 2011, pp. 11, 24 n. 2, fig. 2 (color).
Dennis P. Weller inRembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art. New York, 2011, p. 29 n. 18.
George S. Keyes inRembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 66, 83 nn. 12, 15, fig. 30 (color).
Esmée Quodbach. "Collecting Old Masters for New York: Henry Gurdon Marquand and The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 9 (Winter 2017), fig. 3 (color) [DOI: 10.5092/jhna.2017.9.1.2].
Hofstede de Groot (1916) describes this painting as being signed and dated 1664. A different date, 1645, and an uncharacteristic signature were removed when the picture was cleaned in 1951.
Associate Museum Librarian for Instruction, French and Italian Bibliographer, and Online Resources Deborah Vincelli discusses some notable early Met collection catalogues in Thomas J. Watson Library.
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
1635
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