Portrait of Nicolas van Bambeeck in a Picture Frame

In 1641 Rembrandt was at the height of his Amsterdam success, and this merchant, Nicolaes van Bambeeck, was one of his neighbours on the Sint-Antoniesbreestraat. Rembrandt painted him and his wife, Agatha Bas, as a pair, three years after their marriage, and gave each sitter a trick of illusion. Nicolaes rests one hand on what looks like a real frame, as if leaning out of the picture toward you. The two portraits were split up in the 19th century and have rarely met since. Hers is now in the British Royal Collection in London, while his stays here in Brussels, the one Rembrandt in Belgium whose attribution has never been doubted.