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Gallery Text

Not a formal portrait, but a study of a generic type and emotional expression, this painting dates to a period shortly after the artist left his native Leiden and settled in Amsterdam. It shows the dramatic lighting and painstaking description of detail and texture that inform his early work. Rembrandt and his contemporary Jan Lievens painted head studies of this kind — from male and female models, young and old — when both worked in Leiden, but Rembrandt continued to produce them throughout his career. In their informality, they acknowledge their derivation from a type of studio exercise, yet many are highly finished, signed and dated, and were sold to collectors. The signature, which Rembrandt used in this form only in 1632, consists of the monogram RHL — an abbreviation of Rembrandt Harmenszoon Leydensis (Rembrandt, son of Harmen, from Leiden) — followed by his surname.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1930.191
People
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch (Leiden 1606 - 1669 Amsterdam)
Title
Portrait of an Old Man
Other Titles
Former Title: Bust of an Old Man
Former Title: Head of an Old Man
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1632
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Netherlands
Culture
Dutch
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/231830

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2300, European Art, 17th–19th century, Seventeenth–Century Dutch and Flemish Art
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on oak panel
Dimensions
66.9 x 50.7 cm (26 5/16 x 19 15/16 in.)
framed: 98.3 x 82.5 cm (38 11/16 x 32 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: verso, upper right of cradle, crayon: 47431
  • inscription: verso, upper left of frame, red chalk: 47431
  • inscription: verso, upper center of cradle, black crayon: 201 [illegible text]
  • inscription: verso, center of cradle, red chalk: 47431
  • label: red bordered, handwritten text in black ink: 3858
  • label: verso, right side of frame, printed text: Rembrandt in America / North Carolina Museum of Art October 30, 2011 - January / 22, 2012 / Cleveland Museum of Art February 19 - May 28, 2012 / Minneapolis Institute of Arts June 24 - September 16, 2012 / Rembrandt van Rijn / Portrait of an Old Man, c. 1632 / Oil on cradeled oak / 26 3/8 x 20 in. / Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard / University, Cambridge, Bequest of Nettie G. / Naumburg
  • inscription: lower right: RHL [in monogram] van Ryn / 1632

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ducal Collection, Oldenburg (1823-1918). Gustav Pauli, Bremen and Hamburg, 1919. [Unidentified dealer, by 1923]. [1] [Paul Bottenwieser, Berlin and Frankfurt, 1925] sold; to private collector. [Ehrich Galleries, New York, by 1928], sold; to Nettie Naumburg, New York, 1928, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1930

Notes
[1] Per Wilhelm Bode in “Die Rembrandts der Oldenberger Galerie, Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung," no. 340, July 21, 1923, the painting was transported to Amsterdam and the United States where it was offered for sale and then returned to Germany.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Bredius 147

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Nettie G. Naumburg
Accession Year
1930
Object Number
1930.191
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • "Rembrandt in America: The Painter and his Pretenders", The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC, Sunday, October 30, 2011), section D, repr. p. 2D
  • Verzeichniss der Gemälde und Gypsabgüsse in der Grossherzoglichen Sammlung zu Oldenburg, Druck und Verlag der Schulzeschen Buchhandlung (Oldenburg, 1845), p. 10, no. 73
  • Gustav Parthey, Deutscher Bildersaal (Berlin, Germany, 1863-1864), Vol. I, p. 334, no. 145
  • Verzeichniss der Gemälde und Gypsabgüsse in der Grossherzoglichen Sammlung zu Oldenburg: mit einem Anhange sämmtlicher auf den Gemälden befindlichen Monogramme, Bezeichnungen und Inschriften, nach den Bestimmungen von G. F. Waagen, Druck und Verlag der Schulzeschen Buchhandlung (Oldenburg, 1868), p. 36, no. 124
  • Friedrich Kurd von Alten, Verzeichniss der Gemälde in der Grossherzoglichen Sammlung zu Oldenburg: mit einem Anhange der auf den Gemälden befindlichen Monogramme, Bezeichnungen u. Inschriften, Druck und Verlag der Schulzeschen Buchhandlung (Oldenburg, 1871), p. 86, no. 167
  • Wilhelm von Bode, Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei, F. Vieweg und Sohn (Braunschweig, 1883), pp. 413, 574, nr. 116
  • Eugène Dutuit, Tableaux et dessins de Rembrandt: catalogue historique et descriptif, A. Lévy (Paris, 1885), pp. 31, 64, 66, no. 363
  • Alfred von Wurzbach, Rembrandt-Galerie. Eine Auswahl von hundert Gemälden Rembrandts, nach den vorzüglichsten Stichen, Radirungen und Schwarzkunst-Blättern., Verlag Paul Neff (Stuttgart, 1886), p. 52, no. 111
  • Wilhelm von Bode, Die Grossherzogliche Gemälde-Galerie zu Oldenburg, Gesellschaft für Vervielfältigende Kunst (Vienna, 1888), pp. 27, 32, repr.
  • Verzeichniss der Gemälde, Gypse und Bronzen in der Grossherzoglichen Sammlung zu Oldenburg, A. Schwartz (1890), p. 92, no. 194
  • Émile Michel, Rembrandt: sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps, Librairie Hachette (Paris, 1893), pp. 112, 554
  • Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, "Kritische Bemerkungen zu einigen Niederländern in der Schweriner Galerie", Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, Verlag von W. Spemann (Berlin and Stuttgart, 1894), Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 180-184, p. 183
  • Wilhelm von Bode and Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, The Complete Work of Rembrandt: History, Description and Heliographic Reproduction of all the Master's Pictures with a Study of His Life and His Art, Charles Sedelmeyer (Paris, 1897-1906), Vol. II, p. 162, no. 141, repr.
  • Ludwig Strackerjan, Oldenburger Spaziergänge und Ausflüge: Mit 7 Kärtchen und einem Situationsplan der Oldenburgischen Eisenbahne, Druck und Verlag von Gerhard Stalling (Oldenburg, 1900), p. 11
  • G. Ebe, Der Deutsche Cicerone. Führer durch die Kunstschätze der Länder deutscher Zunge, Verlag von Otto Spamer (Leipzig, 1901), Vol. IV, p. 466
  • Kurzes Verzeichnis der Gemälde, Gips-Abgüsse und Bronze-Nachbildungen der Grossherzoglichen Sammlung im Augusteum zu Oldenburg, A. Schwartz (Oldenburg, 1902), p. 27, no. 194
  • Abraham Bredius and F. Schmidt-Degener, Die Grossherzogliche Gemaelde-Galerie im Augusteum zu Oldenburg. 41 Reproductionen in Photogravure. Mit einem Vorwort und erläuterndem Text, Carl G. Oncken's Hofkunsthandlung (Oldenburg, 1906), pp. 12-13, repr.
  • Alfred von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon, Halm und Goldmann (Vienna and Leipzig, 1906-1911), Band 3, pp. 406, 412
  • Adolf Rosenberg, Rembrandt. Des Meisters Gemälde in 551 Abbildungen, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (Stuttgart, 1906), p. 71, p. 395, repr.
  • Beschreibendes und Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der Hervorragendsten Holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, checklist, Paul Neff Verlag (Stuttgart, 1907-1928), Vol. 6, p. 194, cat. no. 417
  • William R. Valentiner, Rembrandt. Des Meisters Gemälde in 643 Abbildungen, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (Stuttgart, 1909), p. 116, 553, repr.
  • Dr. Karl Schaefer, Führer durch die Grossherzogliche Gemälde-Galerie im Augusteum zu Oldenburg, Carl G. Oncken (Oldenburg, 1912), p. 11, repr.
  • Wilhelm Oncken, "Die Großherzogliche Gemälde-Galerie im Augusteum", Heimatkunde des Herzogums Oldenburg, Schünemann (Bremen, 1913), pp. 534-542, Bd. II, p. 540
  • Wilhelm von Bode, "Die Rembrandts der Oldenburger Galerie", Berliner Tageblatt und Handels-Zeitung (July 21, 1923), No. 340, p. 2
  • John Charles van Dyke, Rembrandt and His School: A Critical Study of the Master and His Pupils with a New Assignment of Their Pictures, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, 1923), p. 123, repr. as plate XXVI
  • "New York Collector Buys a Rembrandt", The Art News (November 28, 1925), vol. XXIV, no. 8, p. 1, repr.
  • [Reproduction Only], The Art News (Feburary 11, 1928), Vol. 26, No. 19, p. 10, repr.
  • "Naumburg Bequest", Notes (Fogg Art Museum), Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, June 1930), Vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 222-225, p. 222, 225, repr. p. 225
  • Annual Report 1929-1930, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1930), p. 4
  • "Paintings by Rembrandt, Franz Hals, and Murillo, are Included Among Naumburg Gifts on Display at Fogg", The Harvard Crimson (Cambridge, MA, March 4, 1931), p. 4, repr.
  • Paul J. Sachs, "The Naumburg Bequest", Harvard Alumni Bulletin, 19 Feb 1931, p. 633, repr. p. 637
  • Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Paintings in Aid of The Architects' Emergency Fund, exh. cat., Ehrich-Newhouse Incorporated (New York, 1935), cat. no. 26
  • Abraham Bredius, Rembrandt Gemälde, 630 Abbildungen, Phaidon (Vienna, 1935), p. 7, no. 147, repr.
  • William R. Valentiner, Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Frans Hals, Rembrandt, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Anderson & Ritchie: The Ward Ritchie Press (Los Angeles, 1947), p. 64, cat. no. VII, repr.
  • Seymour Slive, "The Young Rembrandt", Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, Allen Memorial Art Museum (Oberlin, Ohio, 1963), Vol. XX, No. 3, pp. 120-149, p. 137
  • Jakob Rosenberg, Seymour Slive, and E. H. Ter Kuile, Dutch Art and Architecture: 1600-1800, Penguin Books (Baltimore, MD, 1966), p. 84
  • Abraham Bredius, Rembrandt: the Complete Edition of the Paintings, ed. Horst Gerson, Phaidon (London, 1969), p. 131, repr.
  • Horst Gerson, "Rembrandt's Workshop and Assistants", Rembrandt After Three Hundred Years: A Symposium – Rembrandt and His Followers, The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1973), pp. 19-31, p. 24
  • Seymour Slive, "Rembrandt at Harvard", Apollo (June 1978), vol. 107, no. 196, pp. 452-463, p. 88, 93, repr. p. 93 as fig. 17
  • Jan Lievens ein Maler im Schatten Rembrandt, exh. cat., Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum (Braunschweig, 1979), pp.17-18
  • Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Banden (Landau, 1983), p. 2943, no. 1919 (as Anonyme Rembrandt-Schule)
  • Josua de Bruyn and Ernst van de Wetering, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings: 1635-1642, M. Nijhoff Publishers (The Hague and Boston, MA, 1986), vol. III, p. 24, repr. as fig. 11; vol. 6, cat. no 81, p. 119, pp. 520-521, repr. p. 117, p. 520.
  • Peter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America, Netherlands-American Amity Trust and Eerdmans (Washington, D.C. and Grand Rapids, MI, 1986), p. 42, repr. as fig. 54
  • John Gilmour, Picturing the World, State University of New York Press (Albany, 1986), p. 10, repr. as fig. 10
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 51, color plate; pp. 126, 177 repr. b/w cat. no. 121
  • Susan Lumenello, "Picturing an Exhibition: On the Making of 'Rembrandt'", Colloquy [Harvard Alumni Quarterly] (Fall 2006), pp. 2-3, 11, repr. p. 2 (detail)
  • Ivan Gaskell, Rembrandt and the Aesthetics of Technique, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2006), checklist
  • Friso Lammertse and Jaap Van Der Veen, Uylenburgh & Son: Art and Commerce from Rembrandt to De Lairesse 1625-1675, exh. cat., Waanders Uitgevers and The Rembrandt House Museum (Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2006), pp. 183-184; repr. in b/w p. 184 as fig. 136.
  • Tom Rassieur and George S. Keyes, Rembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship, exh. cat., Skira Rizzoli (New York, NY, 2011), p. 106, cat. 14 p. 181, repr. p. 105 as pl. 25 and p. 224 (full page)
  • Sebastian Dohe, Malve Anna Falk, and Rainer Stamm, Die Gemäldegalerie Oldenburg: Eine europäische Altmeistersammlung, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Oldenburg (Oldenburg, Germany, 2017), pp. 312-313, cat. no. 194, repr. p. 313
  • Colleen Walsh, "Connecting with a Masterpiece: Rembrandt Drawing at Harvard Art Museums Offers a Close Look at Artist's Hand", The Harvard Gazette (August 1, 2019), repr., https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/08/rembrandt-drawing-offers-a-close-look-at-artists-hand/, accessed August 1, 2019
  • Christopher Brown, An van Camp, and Christiaan Vogelaar, Young Rembrandt, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology (Oxford, 2019), cat no. 96, repr., p. 214
  • Nora McGreevy, "A Painting Stolen in East Germany's Biggest Art Heist May Be a Rembrandt", Smithsonian Magazine (November 8, 2021), https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-painting-stolen-in-east-germanys-biggest-art-heist-might-be-a-rembrandt-180979023/, accessed November 10, 2021
  • "Painting recovered 40 years after its theft in East Germany may be an unknown Rembrandt", The Art Newspaper (November 3, 2021), https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/11/03/recovered-painting-could-be-unknown-rembrandt, accessed November 3, 2021
  • Timo Trümper, Wieder Zurück in Gotha! Die Verlorenen Meisterwerke, exh. cat., Michael Imhof Verlag (Petersberg, 2021), pp. 220, 224
  • Jeroen Giltaij, Het grote Rembrandt boek: Alle 684 schilderijen, WBOOKS (Zwolle, 2022), p. 123, no. 167, repr.

Exhibition History

  • A Loan Exhibition of Paintings in Aid of The Architects' Emergency Fund, Ehrich-Newhouse Incorporated, 01/16/1935 - 01/26/1935
  • Loan Exhibition of Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 11/18/1947 - 12/31/1947
  • Rembrandt: A Selection of his Works, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 10/18/1984 - 12/11/1984
  • Rembrandt and the Aesthetics of Technique, Harvard University Art Museums, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 09/09/2006 - 12/10/2006
  • Re-View: S424-426 Western Art from 1560 to 1900, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/16/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • Rembrandt in America, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 10/30/2011 - 01/22/2012; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 02/19/2012 - 05/28/2012; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 06/24/2012 - 09/16/2012
  • 32Q: 2300 Dutch & Flemish, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 09/08/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/17/2018 - 10/10/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 01/01/2050
  • Young Rembrandt, Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, 11/02/2019 - 02/09/2020; Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, 02/27/2020 - 11/01/2020

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu