Portrait of an Old Man

In 1654 Rembrandt was 48 and still living in the big house he had never finished paying for, on the Sint Antoniesbreestraat, the street at the heart of Amsterdam's Jewish quarter. That year he painted this old man at life size, seated in an armchair with his large hands folded, and left no name for him. The title the Hermitage uses, Portrait of an Old Jew, is a traditional label, and the sitter has never been identified. Look to the left of his shoulder, in the dark background, and you can find the signature and date, Rembrandt f. 1654. The museum keeps it as Rembrandt's own work, while a 2022 survey of all his paintings by the Dutch art historian Jeroen Giltaij lists it under his circle. It reached Saint Petersburg in 1781, when Catherine the Great bought the Paris collection of Count Baudouin.