Rembrandt van Rijn
Titus, the Artist’s Son
1659
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 32 x 27 in. (81.3 x 68.7 cm.)
Credit Line
The Mary Frick Jacobs Collection
Object Number
1938.206
Rembrandt van Rjin's 19-year-old son, Titus, meets the viewer's gaze with a slight smile. Dressed in a casual jacket, white shirt, and black beret, the young man relaxes in his chair, chin in hand. His bright red shirtsleeve stands out against the setting's otherwise muted color palette of brown, black, and white.
The informality of the portrait reflects the tender relationship between father and son. Broad, confident brushstrokes capture the humanity of the sitter, the frankness of his expression, and his disarming pose. The portrait also shows where Rembrandt altered the composition during the painting process. Look closely to see how the artist repositioned Titus' thumb on his chin.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1938; Mary Frick Jacobs, 1927; Duveen Brothers, New York; Charles Chauncey Stillman, New York, by bequest, 1918; James Stillman, New York, by purchase; Gimpel & Wildenstein, Paris; Krämer, Paris; dealer Sir Joseph Duveen; Probably acquired by the fifth Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle, England, between 1820-1836
The Royal Academy of Arts, London, “Exhibition of Works by Rembrandt,” January 2, 1899 to March 11, 1899, p. 31, cat. no. 97.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1921 to 1926.
Duveen Galleries, New York, “Paintings by the Great Dutch Masters,” 1942, no. 50.
Wildenstein and Company, New York, “A Loan Exhibition of Rembrandt,” January 19, 1950 to February 25, 1950, no. 21, pl. XVIII.
The Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, “Paintings by Dutch Masters of the Seventeenth-Century,” May 6, 1951 to June 17, 1951.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, “Man and His Years,” October 19, 1954 to November 21, 1954, pp. 14-15, 33, cat. no. 82.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, “Early and Late Works by European and American Artists,” October 22, 1968 to December 8, 1968, pp. 28-29, 175, cat. no. 12.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, “Rembrandt and His Pupils,” January 9, 1969 to February 3, 1969, Circulated to The Art Gallery of Ontario, March 14, 1969 to April 27, 1969, p. 68, cat. no. 15.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Rembrandt After Three Hundred Years: An Exhibition of Rembrandt and His Followers,” October 25, 1969 to December 7, 1969, Circulated to, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, December 22, 1969 to February 1, 1970, Circulated to The Detroit Institute of Arts, February 24, 1970 to April 5, 1970, pp. 38-39, 101, cat. no. 15.
The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, “Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact,” October 1, 1997 to December 7, 1997, Circulated to National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, December 17, 1997 to February 15, 1998, pp. 146-149, cat. no. 18.
The North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt Paintings in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship,” October 30, 2011 to January 22, 2012, Circulated to The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 19, 2012 to May 28, 2012, Circulated to The Minneapolis Museum of Art, June 24, 2012 to September 16, 2012, pp. 76, 78, 191, pl. 14, cat. no. 35.
Museum Het Rembrandthuis, “Rembrandt’s Social Network: Family, Friends, and Acquaintance,” February 1, 2019 to May 29, 2019, p. 46.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1921 to 1926.
Duveen Galleries, New York, “Paintings by the Great Dutch Masters,” 1942, no. 50.
Wildenstein and Company, New York, “A Loan Exhibition of Rembrandt,” January 19, 1950 to February 25, 1950, no. 21, pl. XVIII.
The Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, “Paintings by Dutch Masters of the Seventeenth-Century,” May 6, 1951 to June 17, 1951.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, “Man and His Years,” October 19, 1954 to November 21, 1954, pp. 14-15, 33, cat. no. 82.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, “Early and Late Works by European and American Artists,” October 22, 1968 to December 8, 1968, pp. 28-29, 175, cat. no. 12.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, “Rembrandt and His Pupils,” January 9, 1969 to February 3, 1969, Circulated to The Art Gallery of Ontario, March 14, 1969 to April 27, 1969, p. 68, cat. no. 15.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Rembrandt After Three Hundred Years: An Exhibition of Rembrandt and His Followers,” October 25, 1969 to December 7, 1969, Circulated to, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, December 22, 1969 to February 1, 1970, Circulated to The Detroit Institute of Arts, February 24, 1970 to April 5, 1970, pp. 38-39, 101, cat. no. 15.
The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, “Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact,” October 1, 1997 to December 7, 1997, Circulated to National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, December 17, 1997 to February 15, 1998, pp. 146-149, cat. no. 18.
The North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt Paintings in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship,” October 30, 2011 to January 22, 2012, Circulated to The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 19, 2012 to May 28, 2012, Circulated to The Minneapolis Museum of Art, June 24, 2012 to September 16, 2012, pp. 76, 78, 191, pl. 14, cat. no. 35.
Museum Het Rembrandthuis, “Rembrandt’s Social Network: Family, Friends, and Acquaintance,” February 1, 2019 to May 29, 2019, p. 46.
John Smith, "A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters," vol. VII (London: Smith and Son, 1836), p.133, cat. no. 379.
G. Waagen, "Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated MSS.," etc, vol. III (London: J. Murray, 1854), p. 398.
E. Duthuit, "Tableaux et dessins de Rembrandt : catalogue historique et descriptif : avec vingt-cinq planches en héliogravure ou eaux-fortes : supplément à l'oeuvre complet de Rembrandt" (Paris: A. Levy, 1885), p. 48.
E. Michel, "Rembrandt: Sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps" (Paris : Librairie Hachette, 1893), p. 432.
A. Bredius, “Kunstkritiek der XVIIe eeuw,” "Oud Holland" 7 (1889): pp. 41-44.
W. Bode and C. Hofstede de Groot, "Rembrandt Beschreibendes Verzeichnis seiner Gemälde mit den helio graphischen Nachbildungen, Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner Kunst," vol. VI (Paris: C. Sedelmeyer, 1901), cat. no. 446.
W. Bode and C. Hofstede de Groot, "The Complete Works of Rembrandt: History, Description, and Heliographic Reproduction of All the Master’s Pictures with a Study of His Life and Art," vol. VI (Paris: C. Sedelmeyer, 1916), pp. 334-335, cat. no. 707.
“Titus lacht…de veiling van een Rembrandt,” Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, February 21, 1927.
W. Valentiner, "Rembrandt’s Paintings in America" (New York: W. Frankel, 1931), no. 146.
A. Bredius, "The Paintings of Rembrandt" (Vienna: Phaidon Press, 1937), p. 6, ill. no. 124.
“Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America,” (New York: The William Bradford Press, 1941), no. 201.
Baltimore Museum of Art. A Century of Baltimore Collecting, 1840-1949: An Exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art, June 6 – September 1, 1941. Baltimore, MD, 1941, page 54.
Jakob Rosenberg, "Rembrandt," vol. I (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1948), pp. 57, 220, no. 22.
Rosenthal, Gertrude. Themes and Variations in Painting and Sculpture: [Exhibition] April Fifteenth to May Twenty-Third, Nineteen Hundred and Forty-Eight. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1948, cat. no. 15, page 14, (published as 'Portrait of the Artist's Son Titus').
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Picture Book" (Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955), p. 27.
Eloise Spaeth, "American Art Museums and Galleries: An Introduction to Looking" (New York: Harper and Bros., 1960), p. 51.
Kurt Bauch, "Rembrandt Gemaelde" (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1966), pp. 22, 32, cat and pl. no. 430.
Rene Gimpel, "Diary of an Art Dealer" (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1966), p. 11.
K. R. Greenfield, "The Museum: Its First Half Century Annual I" (Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1966), p. 23.
A. Werner, “Up and Down Mad Avenue,” "Arts Magazine" 41, no. 2 (Jan. 1967): p. 8.
“Apollo Magazine,” (October 1968): ill.
Rosenthal, Gertrude, ed. "From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists." Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1968, pp. 29, ill.
H. Gerson, "Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of Paintings," by A. Bredius, 3rd edition (London: Phaidon, 1969), pp. 112, 558, cat. no. 124.
Horst Gerson, “Rembrandt: A Question of Attributions,” "Arts Canada" 26 (1969) pp. 32-33.
Kay Silberfeld, “Examination and Treatment of Rembrandt’s Titus, the Artist’s Son,”in The Baltimore Museum of Art Annual, vol. IV (Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1972): pp. 41-49.
C. Hofstede de Groot, "A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the 17th Century," vol. I (Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1976), p. 562, no. 707.
Peter Sutton, "A Guide to Dutch Art in America" (Grand Rapids: Netherlands-American Amity Trust, 1986), p. 5.
J. Giltaij, "De tekeningen van Rembrandt en zijn school in het Museum Boymans-van Beuningen" (Rotterdam: Museum Boyman-van Beuningen, 1988), no. 180, note 2.
L.J. Slatkes, "Rembrandt: Catalogo completo dei dipinti Archivi di arte antica e moderna" (Firenze : Cantini, 1992), no. 304.
Raoul Middleman, “Rembrandt’s Portrait of Titus,” Forays (Spring 1994): p. 29.
Albert Blankert, "Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact," (National Gallery of Victoria ; Art Exhibitions Australia ; Waanders, Melbourne, Sydney, Zwolle, 1997), cat. no. 18 pp. 146-49.
E. van de Wetering, "A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings," vol. IV (Amsterdam: Stichting Foundation, 2013), p. 414, ill. 280.
George S. Keyes, "Rembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship" (Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011), p. 76, pl. no. 14, p. 191 cat. no. 35.
"The Baltimore Museum of Art, Celebrating a Museum" (Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014).
"Bust of a Youth." The Rembrandt Database. The Hague: RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, 2018. https://rkd.nl/explore/images/233354
"Rembrandt's Social Network: Family, Friends and Acquaintances." Amsterdam: Museum Het Rembrandthuis; Zwolle: W Books, 2019, pp. 46-47, 134, cover.
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