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拍品专文
Although both Valentiner and Hofstede de Groot published this spirited head study in the 1920s as autograph, subsequent Rembrandt scholars appear to have omitted it entirely from the main body of literature on the artist. This neglect is somewhat puzzling given the picture's close stylistic affinities with Rembrandt's early output, and also in view of the fact that the picture was on the art market in late-1950s and was exhibited as late as 1970 with a full attribution to Rembrandt.
This type of elderly, white-bearded model recurs repeatedly in the art of Rembrandt in the years around 1628-1630, often, as in this case, posing with a downward glance in a contemplative mood. Rembrandt made prolific and experimental use of character head studies or tronies during this period, in an effort to hone his observational skills and to arrive at the highly expressive facial types used in his finished pictures, such as Saint Paul (1629-1630; Nuremburg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum) or Jeremiah (1630; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum).
The facture and handling of this study is strikingly free and sketch-like when seen in direct comparison with Rembrandt's extant tronies, for example the Old man in a cap, in which the plasticity of the brushwork is its most striking feature (circa 1630; Milwaukee, Alfred Bader collection). The closest comparison perhaps is with the similarly sized study of an Old man in profile looking down, which has recently been rehabilitated into Rembrandt's oeuvre (circa 1629; panel, 19.6 x 16.3 cm.; Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst). The rapidly applied, hatched brushwork seen in the rendering of the Copenhagen head is very similar to the treatment of the head in this example, although again the application of paint is denser and somewhat different in character. The distinct cursive 'R' initial in the present work is integral to the original paint layer (rather than a later addition), and is not dissimilar to the way Rembrandt signed the Supper at Emmaus in 1629 (Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André).
This type of elderly, white-bearded model recurs repeatedly in the art of Rembrandt in the years around 1628-1630, often, as in this case, posing with a downward glance in a contemplative mood. Rembrandt made prolific and experimental use of character head studies or tronies during this period, in an effort to hone his observational skills and to arrive at the highly expressive facial types used in his finished pictures, such as Saint Paul (1629-1630; Nuremburg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum) or Jeremiah (1630; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum).
The facture and handling of this study is strikingly free and sketch-like when seen in direct comparison with Rembrandt's extant tronies, for example the Old man in a cap, in which the plasticity of the brushwork is its most striking feature (circa 1630; Milwaukee, Alfred Bader collection). The closest comparison perhaps is with the similarly sized study of an Old man in profile looking down, which has recently been rehabilitated into Rembrandt's oeuvre (circa 1629; panel, 19.6 x 16.3 cm.; Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst). The rapidly applied, hatched brushwork seen in the rendering of the Copenhagen head is very similar to the treatment of the head in this example, although again the application of paint is denser and somewhat different in character. The distinct cursive 'R' initial in the present work is integral to the original paint layer (rather than a later addition), and is not dissimilar to the way Rembrandt signed the Supper at Emmaus in 1629 (Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André).