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Your gallerySelf-Portrait with Saskia
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Compare the heavy shading of Rembrandt’s hat and sleeve with the light lines of Saskia behind him, then find the drawing tool in his hand.
Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenburgh, the young cousin of the art dealer in whose house he lodged, in 1634, and two years later he etched this double portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, which owns another impression, notes that it is the only self-portrait in which he included his wife. He etched himself with deep, dark lines and set Saskia behind him in lighter ones, and he may have worked at least partly from a mirror.
Etching on ivory laid paper · Image: 10.4 × 9.2 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Dutch Golden Age
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Self-Portrait with Saskia
- Artist
- Rembrandt van Rijn Dutch, 1606-1669
- Date
- 1636
- Medium
- Etching on ivory laid paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 10.4 × 9.2 cm (4 1/8 × 3 5/8 in.); Sheet, cut within platemark: 10.6 × 9.6 cm (4 3/16 × 3 13/16 in.)
- Credit line
- The Art Institute of Chicago
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist’s life 1606–1669
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.