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#Rembrandt

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Hotspur🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦

"Self-Portrait with Bushy Hair," Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1631.

Rembrandt did many self-portraits in his life, and here's an earlier one, done when he was about 25. He doesn't compliment himself with this....his face is blocky, his expression almost sad, and his hair is a freakin' mess.

Rembrandt was unusual for the time for doing portraits in a very realistic, unidealized manner, painting others, and himself, as they were. His self-portraits tend to be very analytical, which him trying different expressions and styles of hair and dress.

Now, compare this to, say, later artists like 19th century painter Gustave Courbet, who did several self-portraits, usually presenting himself as a virile stud. And I think of 20th century painter Stanley Spencer, whose work I don't care for, but he had a knack for making himself look almost comical in his self-portraits.

Still, it's this unflinching drive to paint not only his world but himself as they are, with no idealization, that's one of the factors that makes Rembrandt one of history's great visual artists.

From the Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam.

A drypoint etching from the Dutch Golden Age, depicting the head of the artist, shown with longish, disheveled, bushy hair, and an almost sad expression on his blocky face.
#Art#DutchGoldenAge#Rembrandt
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