Focus on this artwork and explore the Technique and process.
As in many of the artist's late works, the painting is characterized by an improvisational handling, with details that read as unfinished. There are areas, such as the face and the right side of the hat, where a gray layer of paint has been used as a tonal middle ground, upon which bold lights and rich dark accents have been added, sometimes with rapid strokes of paint applied wet-into-wet. In several places, Rembrandt "drew" into the paint while it was still wet, incising lines in the mustache, left eyebrow, and shirt collar. The hands, palette, brushes, and fur lining of the artist's gown, or tabbaard, were painted with great rapidity. Whether Rembrandt intended to more fully finish these areas is not known, but the painting's overall forcefulness renders concern for its completion superfluous. Subsequent generations of artists appreciated the unfinished passages: Joshua Reynolds commented on its "very unfinished manner", but found it "admirable for its colour and effect", and Jean-Honoré Fragonard made a painted copy of it. That Rembrandt may not have considered the work complete is suggested by the omission of his signature and date, unusual for a self-portrait by the artist. Alternatively, it is possible that Rembrandt's intent was to leave an iconic biographical image for posterity, more profound than a traditional self-portrait. In this vein, a comparison to Titian's late "unfinished" self-portrait in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, which Self-Portrait with Two Circles resembles, is appropriate.Some of the apparently unfinished passages were intended as revisions to a previous conception: the body was originally turned farther to the viewer's right, with Rembrandt's arm raised so that he would be portrayed painting on a canvas at the edge of the picture while holding additional brushes in his left hand. The subsequent alterations, including the repainting of his left hand on his hip, reduced the animation of the figure and increased its sense of monumentality. The most richly elaborated areas are the background and head, with the latter constructed of many nuanced colors, thickly painted, and imparting a dynamic realism. In contrast to the impasted areas are the eye sockets, painted with subtle glazes, one eye in shadow and the effect enigmatic.
palette Jean-Honoré Fragonard Gemäldegalerie, Berlin canvas Rembrandt Joshua Reynolds left Titian glazes tabbaard