After Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 12 December 1990, lot 178;

Thereafter acquired by the present owner.

Rembrandt depicted his own likeness throughout his career—in approximately forty paintings, thirty prints, and many drawings. Self-Portrait in a flat cap (Windsor, Royal Collections, inv. no. RCIN 404120), on which the present work is based. dates to 1642, when Rembrandt was at the height of his career. Beginning in the artist's own time, his self portraits were widely copied. The present example, executed in the eighteenth century, is particularly well done as it replicates both the distinguished image of the artist in elegant attire (particularly noteworthy are the two gold chains) and Rembrandt’s technical approach, evident most especially in the face, where the surface was built up with vigorous brushwork and impasto.