A Little More Rembrandt

Another pen and ink experiment, again from Rembrandt. This is one of his self-portraits from 1629. I love Rembrandt's dramatic lighting and his fascination with faces. This is a very early one, as you can tell by how thin and young he looks. He had taken to dressing himself up in armor and fancy clothes. Later on in his life you still get several fancy clothes but very "warts and all" impressions of his face.

Rembrandt met with success during his lifetime, but by the end of his life he was in debt and died so, before his work became legendary again. If you are into long books, Simon Schama wrote a fascinating biography of Rembrandt. I read it a few years ago and loved it. Lately it's been calling to me again. (As you can tell from the blog posts.) There isn't a whole lot known about Rembrandt himself so it is also an art history lesson about the time period and various artists contemporary with Rembrandt.