Ritratto di Eleazar Swalmius

For much of the 20th century this portrait was treated as not quite good enough to be a Rembrandt. Antwerp had bought it as one in 1886, but experts found it too restrained, and by 1969 it was being handed to his pupil Govert Flinck. Then in 2008 restorers stripped away yellowed varnish and found the paint underneath in near-perfect condition. Weave analysis showed the canvas came from the same bolt of linen Rembrandt used for the Blinding of Samson and for his Danae. The sitter is Eleazar Swalmius, a preacher who worked in Amsterdam, painted around 1637 when he was about 55, one hand raised as if caught in the middle of a point.