Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul

By 1661 Rembrandt was in his mid-fifties and had lost most of what he owned. He had been declared insolvent a few years earlier and his grand house and collection were sold off. Around this time he painted himself as the Apostle Paul, the only time he ever cast himself as a figure from scripture. He wears a turban and holds a sheaf of manuscript, Paul's letters, and the hilt of a sword shows at his chest, the weapon of the saint's martyrdom. The face is his own, older and lined, looking up with raised eyebrows as if caught mid-thought. He painted himself dozens of times across his life, but almost never as anyone other than himself.