Self-portrait wearing a white feathered bonnet

For years this small self-portrait hung at Buckland Abbey in Devon labelled as the work of one of Rembrandt's pupils, a decent studio piece and little more. Then in 2013 it was sent to a Cambridge laboratory, cleaned of old varnish and later overpaint, and studied for months, and the leading Rembrandt scholar of the day concluded it was painted by the master himself around 1635. That was a good year for him. Newly settled in Amsterdam and much in demand, Rembrandt was still in his late twenties, and he shows himself here in a plumed bonnet and a fashionable slashed collar, dressing up as he liked to do. Cleaning brought back the quick, confident strokes that helped convince the experts whose hand this really was.