Rembrandt painted his own face more than 80 times in paintings, etchings and drawings the first of which was created about 1628 when he was roughly 22 years old. A string beam of light illuminates just the neck, part of the cheek, the earlobe and the tip of the nose. The other parts of the face are lost in deep shadow giving an impression of depth, mystery and drama. Few devotees of the form can approach Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn's radical contributions to self-portraiture. Challenging the conventions enshrined by his predecessors, Rembrandt transformed the art into a fully realised medium capable of communicating emotional depth rather than favourably immortalising one's likeness in the finest trappings of luxury. With more than 80 works spanning paintings, etchings, and drawings, the Dutchman's lifelong practice of self-portraiture, one constant is particularly striking across media and styles - Rembrandt's dedication to presenting himself from multiple perspectives, celebrating the multiplicity of the individual and championing the unfiltered portrayal of emotional expression. The works themselves are rich with technical innovation and experimentation and each expressive brushstroke and obfuscated feature amounts to an unflinchingly honest characterisation of himself, in all his foibles, contrasting states of feeling, and stages of life. This monograph renders all of Rembrandt's self-portraits - from his first experimentations at age 22 to his final self-portrait painted a year before his death. 14 x 19.5cm, 192 pages. New from Taschen.
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