Rembrandt. The Complete Self-Portraits

by Marieke de Winkel, Volker Manuth

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Is there a more iconic master of the self-portrait than Rembrandt? Absolutely not. And now, you get to follow his growth in the medium from pupil to legend.

Few devotees of the form can approach Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s radical contributions to self-portraiture. Challenging the conventions enshrined by his predecessors, Rembrandt transformed the art into a fully realized medium capable of communicating emotional depth rather than favorably immortalizing one’s likeness in the finest trappings of luxury. With more than 80 works spanning paintings, etchings, and drawings, the Dutchman’s lifelong practice of self-portraiture functions as a means of concretizing that which is fleeting. Across four decades, one constant is particularly striking across media and styles—Rembrandt’s dedication to presenting himself from multiple perspectives, celebrating the multiplicity of the individual and championing the unfiltered portrayal of emotional expression.

Apart from the thematic concerns present within Rembrandt’s suite of self-portraits, the works themselves are rich with technical innovation and experimentation. There is an unmistakable humanity present across the entirety of this oeuvre, each expressive brushstroke and obfuscated feature amounting to an unflinchingly honest characterization of himself, in all his foibles, contrasting states of feeling, and stages of life.

This monograph renders all of Rembrandt’s self-portraits – from his first experimentations at age twenty-two to his final self-portrait painted a year before his death – and stands testament to a life committed to revolutionizing painterly practice both in content and form.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783836596671
Publisher:	TASCHEN
Publication date:	04/26/2024
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,043,578
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Marieke de Winkel studied art history and classical archaeology at the University of Amsterdam and history of dress at the Courtauld Institute in London. From 1993 to 2003, she was a research assistant with the Rembrandt Research Project. Her PhD thesis at the University of Amsterdam focused on dress in the works of Rembrandt.

Volker Manuth studied art history, philosophy and classical archaeology in Kiel, Bonn, and Berlin. In 1987 he completed his PhD at the Freie Universityät Berlin with a thesis on the iconography of Rembrandt’s Old Testament subjects. From 1988 to 1995 he was an assistant and associate Professor at the FU Berlin, and from 1995 to 2003, he held the A. Bader Chair of Northern Renaissance and Baroque Art at Queen’s Universityin Kingston, Ontario (Canada). Since 2003, he has been Professor of Art History at Radboud Universityin Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Editorial Reviews

These are among the greatest artworks that Rembrandt ever produced. The artist depicts himself with rugged honesty.

BBC