A Polish Nobleman (1637)

Rembrandt (1606-1669)

A Polish Nobleman
1637
Oil on panel. 96.8 x 66 cm
National Gallery of ArtWashington

After learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting in his native Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn went to Amsterdam in 1624 to study for six months with Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), a famous history painter. Upon completion of his training Rembrandt returned to Leiden. Around 1632 he moved to Amsterdam, quickly establishing himself as the town’s leading artist. He received many commissions for portraits and attracted a number of students who came to learn his method of painting. A Polish Nobleman is probably not a portrait of a specific individual; instead it represents a more generic exotic type that Rembrandt favored during the 1630s. The beaver hat, dark fur cloak, and massive gold chain and medallion have suggested to many that the sitter was Slavic, but the painting’s title has no factual basis. Such exotic paintings allowed Rembrandt to expand the limits of portraiture because he was not constrained by traditional conventions. Through dramatic accents of light and dark on the sitter’s face, bold brushwork, and dense application of paint, Rembrandt created a powerful, almost sculptural presence. By emphasizing the man’s furrowed brow and by shading his eyes, Rembrandt has portrayed him as a thoughtful individual. The penetrating expression of A Polish Nobleman and the striking resemblance of the sitter’s features to Rembrandt’s, particularly in the area around the eyes and nose, make one wonder if this painting is not, in fact, a fanciful and liberally embellished self-portrait. Shown from about the waist up, a light-skinned man with sagging jowls and a double chin wears a fur garment and hat, a large teardrop pearl earring, and gold chains in this vertical painting. In front of a cracked gray stone wall, the man’s body is angled to our right but he turns his face to look at us with brown eyes under a furrowed brow. He has a bulbous nose, and his lips are slightly parted under a wide, wispy mustache. His brown hair is mostly hidden under the tall dark brown fur hat, which is wrapped with a gold chain with a gold medallion at the front. The chestnut-brown fur coat looks especially fuzzy along the neckline, which is also encircled with a thick gold chain. A gold, crown-shaped pendant with a black brush hangs over his right shoulder, closer to us. He holds a gold-tipped cane with his right hand, his thumb extended along the cane. The artist signed and dated the work in the upper right corner, “Rembrandt f: 1637.” (NGA)