Rembrandt - The Complete Etchings of Rembrandt

B 1

Self portrait with curly hair and white collar: bust. Second state of two. Signed RHL. Haarlem.

About 1630.

B 2

Self portrait wearing a soft cap: full face, head only. Only state. Haarlem.

About 1634.

B4

Self portrait with a broad nose. Only state. Amsterdam.

About 1628.

B5

Self portrait leaning forward: bust. Third state of three. Haarlem.

About 1628. Printed from a plate that was cut out of the upper righthand corner of B 54 after Rembrandt ceased work on that etching.

B 7

Self portrait in a soft hat and embroidered cloak. Tenth state of eleven. Signed and dated Rembrandt f. and RHL 1631. Haarlem.

The earliest states show the head only. Rembrandt initially inscribed this plate AET 27, giving himself three years more than his real age. This was changed to AET 24, then to RHL 1631. Rembrandt f . was never used as a signature before 1633, and may indicate that the tenth state was not reached until that year or later.

B 8

Self portrait with long bushy hair: head only. Second state of six. Amsterdam.

About 1631.

B9

Self portrait, leaning forward,listening. Only state. Amsterdam.

About 1628.

B 10

Self portrait , frowning: bust. Second state of three. Haarlem.

In the first state signed and dated RHL 1630. The lines crossing the plate were burnished out in the third state.

B 11

The artists son, Titus [ 1641 - 68 ]. Only state. Printed with surface tone. Amsterdam.

About 1656. Titus was the only child of Rembrandt and Saskia to outlive infancy, and he too died before his time. This plate was formerly considered a self portrait, and accordingly dated about 25 years earlier.

B 12

Self portrait in a fur cap, in an oval border: bust. Only state. Amsterdam.

About 1629. One of four surviving impressions, two of which are on larger paper than this one.

B 13

Self portrait open-mouthed, as if shouting: bust. Second state of three. Signed and dated RHL 1630. Amsterdam.

The diagonal scratch in the upper right was removed in the third state.

B 15

Self portrait in a cloak with a falling collar: bust. Second state of five. Signed and dated RHL 1631. Haarlem.

The date was altered from 1630 to 1631.

B 16

Self portrait in a heavy fur cap: bust. Only state. Signed and dated RHL 1631. Haarlem.

The top of the head with hair can be seen through the fur cap, indicating that the portrait was originally conceived bareheaded.

B 17

Self portrait in a cap and scarf with the face dark: bust. Second state of two. Signed and dated Rembrandt f. 1633. Haarlem.

Signature lacking in the first state. Between the first and second states the artists moustache gained the silhouetted twirl.

B 18

Self porirait with raised sabre. With touches of burin. First state of two. Signed and dated Rembrandt f. 1634. Haarlem.

The penned 23 in the lower margin is the etchings number in Gersaints catalogue (1751).

B 19

Self portrait with Saskia. Second state of three. Signed and dated Rembrandt f. 1636. Haarlem.

The portrait of Saskia (see B 347) resembles that on B 365 in reverse, reminding us that here Rembrandt was seeing Saskia in the mirror.

B 20

Self portrait in a velvet cap with plume . Only state. Signed and dated Rembrandt f 1638. Haarlem.

B 21

Self portrait leaning on a stone sill. Second state of two. Signed and dated Rembrandt f. 1639. Haarlem.

B 22

Self portrait drawing at a window. With drypoint and burin. Second state of five. Signed and dated Rembrandt f. 1648. Amsterdam.

The first state lacks the signature.