Minneapolis Institute of Art

Self-Portrait with Saskia

Rembrandt van Rijn

Date

1636

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Self portrait with Saskia, made in 1636, shows Rembrandt pausing in his work. His hand has gone slack on the stylus. He and his wife stare out at us. It is as though we have interrupted them. Rembrandt was of course gazing into a mirror, where he saw Sakia at the table, serving as partner, model, and muse. The novel image fits into no clear pictorial tradition. Though twenty-first-century sensibilities may spark criticism of the unequal scale of husband and wife, in the context of the seventeenth century, the image is one of remarkable intimacy. This impression is unusually fine and well preserved. Netherlands, Europe

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