Pigment and infra-red analysis conducted in conjunction with the Rembrandt Research Project suggests that Rembrandt’s likeness was reworked shortly after it was painted in 1634. Most probably in the same studio, and at the master’s instigation, it was transformed from an intimate self-portrait into a more fanciful, but more commercial, study of a flamboyantly dressed Russian aristocrat.
Altogether around 80 Rembrandt self-portraits have survived and art historians have read heavy psychological meaning into the vast number he painted. However, it now seems that Rembrandt may well have produced them as commodities – both to order and for stock – and if they failed to sell they were simply painted over.
A surviving photograph from 1935 shows the painting as it was then: a composite figure of a type very popular in the 17th century, sporting a tall red hat, long hair, earrings and a dashing moustache. In this guise it remained anonymous until well into the 20th century.
The unravelling of the mystery behind the hybrid portrait began when a curious French owner tentatively arranged for various elements of the Russian’s attire to be removed (with solvents). The painting was acquired by the current owner’s father in the 1960s, at which time the tall hat had already disappeared. The earrings, hair extensions and moustache followed later, but his investigations stopped there, and it is only in the last few years that scholars have studied the painting in depth and completed the complicated process of peeling back the final layers (this time with a scalpel) to reveal the young artist staring out from beneath the shadow of his beret.
Estimated at £4m-6m, this important discovery is the first Rembrandt self-portrait to appear at auction for 30 years and one of only three still in private hands. London has a deserved reputation as the place to sell Old Master pictures: a status which was enhanced when another rediscovered masterpiece, Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens, sold in 2002 for a massive £49.5m. That reputation seems likely to receive a further boost this year.
Master of Disguise
Coming up in London: Hidden for over 300 years behind the work of a pupil, this image of one of the world’s most celebrated painters at the age of 28 has only recently emerged from beneath layers of overpaint. This newly discovered Rembrandt self-portrait promises to be the highlight of this summer’s auction season in London and will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s on July 10.
