# Self-Portrait

**Rembrandt van Rijn** (Dutch, 1606–1669)  
1660  
Oil on canvas  
31 5/8 x 26 1/2 in. (80.3 x 67.3 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 14.40.618. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437397).

## About this work

Rembrandt, at fifty-four, looks out at us with a steady, weary gaze, wearing a dark beret and a plain coat, his face built up in thick, mottled paint that records every fold and blemish. He painted some forty self-portraits over his career, more than any major artist before him, and those from his later years, after financial ruin had forced the sale of his house and collection, are among his most searching. Light falls on the face; the rest dissolves into shadow.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Rembrandt van Rijn painted this in 1660, aged 54. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Rembrandt van Rijn](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/rembrandt-van-rijn)

Dutch, 1606–1669; born in Leiden; died in Amsterdam

Rembrandt trained in Leiden and Amsterdam, settled in Amsterdam in the early 1630s and became the city’s most sought-after portraitist. His later work grows rougher and more searching, with thick paint, deep shadow and faces that seem lost in thought, as in Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, painted for a Sicilian collector. He was also the leading etcher of his age, reworking plates through many states and making the medium as expressive as painting.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was 54
- Real size: about 32 × 26 in (80 × 67 cm). The 20 × 30 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 17th century
- Subjects: Men, Self-portraits
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1142.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1142/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/self-portrait-met-437397).