Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a man in a top hat, c. 1663 by Natasja Tollenaar

About "Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a man in a top hat, c. 1663"

by Natasja Tollenaar

About the artwork

From about his knees up, a peach-skinned man dressed in a voluminous black cloak and brimmed top hat looks straight at us in this vertical portrait. His body is turned to the left and he turns his face to look at us with brown eyes. He has a thin brown moustache over his pale pink lips, which are closed. He has a slight double chin and his reddish-brown hair falls to his shoulders. His wide brimmed hat has a high crown, which tapers slightly towards the top. His black cloak falls over his arms and body and has a wide, flat, white collar. Two white tassels hang below the slit at the front of the collar. His left hand, on our right, is braced against the armrest of a chair and he puts his hand around the wooden end of the chair's armrest. The wall behind him is brick red with a coffee-brown rectangle on our left. Two vertical, sallow brown stripes run along the red wall on our right, behind the man. Brush strokes are visible in some places, like in the man's face, and a network of cracks runs across the surface of the canvas.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (Leiden, 15 July 1606 - Amsterdam, 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter, etcher and draughtsman. He is widely considered one of the greatest painters and etchers in European art, and the most important Dutch master of the 17th century. His work belongs to the Baroque period and is visibly influenced by Caravaggism. His remarkable mastery of the play of light and dark, often using sharp contrasts (chiaroscuro) to draw the viewer into the scene, led to vivid scenes full of drama.