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Overview
During his lifetime, Rembrandt's extraordinary skills as a printmaker were the main source of his international fame. Unlike his oil paintings, prints travelled light and were relatively cheap. For this reason, they soon became very popular with collectors not only within but also beyond the borders of the Netherlands, and it also explains why they were affordable to collectors through the centuries. This impression was purchased by the National Art Gallery in 1972.
Rembrandt's etchings are remarkable for their high number of self-portraits (over 30 out of about 290). These are particularly collectible, perhaps due to the smaller number of states as well as the artist's compelling and powerful presence. Unlike his stately religious scenes, or regal posed portraits of others, which exhibit his careful and calculating brilliance as an etcher, Rembrandt's self-portraits reveal him as an artist and a man. In them he assumes the role of the experimenting artist, approaching the most difficult of subjects - himself. These self-portraits are often described as ethereal and wistful for their notable contrasting areas of high and low etched space.
This is one of Rembrandt's earliest prints, dating from his early to mid-20s, when he was still to move from his native Leiden to Amsterdam. It is part of a series of etchings in which he portrayed himself with a range of extreme facial expressions. Here he has depicted himself in an angry mood. He appears to have turned his head with sudden violence, giving the picture a sense of spontaneity. Rembrandt's face is partly shaded. His unkempt hair and swarthy fur coat accentuate the dark look on his face. This is one of many etchings that Rembrandt made to practise depicting various emotional states
Te Papa's impression is a third (and final) state etching. The first two were definitely by Rembrandt, though the New Hollstein Rembrandt Volume I catalogue suggests the possibility that the third state was by another artist.
References: New Hollstein Dutch 68, 3rd of 3 states; Hollstein Dutch 10, 3rd of 3 states
See: Rijksmuseum, Self Portrait, Frowning, http://62.212.91.193/aria/aria_assets/RP-P-OB-20?lang=en
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art September 2017