Rembrandt's late self-portrait: the aging artist in a dark beret and fur-trimmed coat, lit against a brown background. Artist

Rembrandt van Rijn

Religious Art & Worldviews · Artists

The Dutch master who painted the Bible as an interior event — and painted himself, at every age, as its witness.

Tagged: Painting Early Modern Devotional Iconic Biblical Painting Reformed and Presbyterian

Rembrandt's religious work deepened as his fortunes fell: the late Return of the Prodigal Son and the etched Hundred Guilder Print carry a mercy his prosperous early work only rehearsed. He lived among Amsterdam's Jewish quarter and painted its scholars as his patriarchs.

The pictured self-portrait of 1659, the year of his bankruptcy's aftermath, is the directory's choice: the Bible's painter presenting himself, unflinching, as one of its subjects.

References

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