Rembrandt van Rijn
Old Man Wearing a Red Hat
1650
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 26 x 22 in. (66 x 55.9 cm.)
Credit Line
The Jacob Epstein Collection
Object Number
1951.108
Gazing downward and to his left, a seated, beareded, elderly man wears a vibrant red beret and dark fur coat held together by a golden clasp. Thickly applied areas of paint detail wrinkles on the man's furrowed brow and emphasize the highlights on his forehead and nose.
Rembrandt van Rjin's career-long interest in depiciting the moods and expressions of elderly men and women inspired many artists. The tronie (the Dutch term for an individualized depiction of an anonymous figure) is attributed to an unidentified artist working in Rembrandt's circle. Like Rembrandt, this artist sought to accurately capture the sitter's physical features and personality. Although the subject's identity is not known, he was likely from Amsterdam, where Rembrandt lived and worked for most of his career.
The Baltimore Museum of Art on deposit; The Baltimore Museum of Art on extended loan, 1932-1951; the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, by bequest, 1945; Jacob Epstein, purchased from Duveen Brothers, New York, 1924; George J. Gould, New York; Messers Thomas Agnew and Sons Collection [according to Bode]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “The Hudson–Fulton Celebration,” September to November 1909, cat. 95.
The Royal Academy of Arts, “Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450-1900,” January 4 to March 9 1929, p. 58, cat. 107.
The Detroit Institute of Arts, “The Thirteenth Loan Exhibition of Old Masters: Paintings by Rembrandt,” May 2 to May 31 1930, cat. 47.
The North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt and His Pupils,” November 16 to December 30, 1956.
The Joods Historisch Museum, “The ‘Jewish’ Rembrandt: The Myth Unravelled,” November 9, 2006 to February 4, 2007.
The North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship,” October 30, 2011 to January 22, 2012, Circulated to The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 19 to May 28, 2012, Circulated to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, June 24 to September 16, 2012, pp. 137-138, cat. 29.
The Royal Academy of Arts, “Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450-1900,” January 4 to March 9 1929, p. 58, cat. 107.
The Detroit Institute of Arts, “The Thirteenth Loan Exhibition of Old Masters: Paintings by Rembrandt,” May 2 to May 31 1930, cat. 47.
The North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt and His Pupils,” November 16 to December 30, 1956.
The Joods Historisch Museum, “The ‘Jewish’ Rembrandt: The Myth Unravelled,” November 9, 2006 to February 4, 2007.
The North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship,” October 30, 2011 to January 22, 2012, Circulated to The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 19 to May 28, 2012, Circulated to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, June 24 to September 16, 2012, pp. 137-138, cat. 29.
Wilhelm von Bode, The Complete Work of Rembrandt: History, Description and Heliographic Reproduction of All The Master’s Pictures with a Study of His Life and His Art, vol. 5 (Paris: Charles Sedelmeyer, 1901), pp. 162-163, no. 376.
Wilhelm R. Valentiner, Rembrandt: des Meisters Gemälde in 643 Abbildungen (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1909), p. 366.
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol. 6 (London: Macmillan and Co., 1916), no. 412.
Wilhelm R. Valentiner, Rembrandt Paintings in America (New York: S.W. Frankel, 1931), pl. 106.
Abraham Bredius, Rembrandt Schilderijen: 630 Afbeeldingen (Vienna: Phaidon, 1935), no. 258, p. 12.
Abraham Bredius and Horst Gerson, Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of The Paintings, 3rd ed (London: Phaidon, 1969), p. 569, no. 258.
Kurt Bauch, Rembrandt Gëmalde (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter and Co, 1966), p. 201.
Peter Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America (Washington D.C.: Netherlands-American Amity Trust, 1986), p. 5 (published as “Old Man in a Beret”).
George S. Keyes, Rembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship (New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications, Inc., 2011), p. 137, pl. no. 38, cat. no. 29.
“Bust of an Old Man Wearing a Red Beret,” RKD Images, RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, accessed 7/24/2, https://rkd.nl/nl/explore/images/233355.
“Rembrandt,” RKD Technical, RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, accessed 7/24/24, https://rkd.nl/en/explore/technical/5011274.
