Autoritratto

By 1660 Rembrandt had lost almost everything. Four years earlier an Amsterdam court had declared him insolvent, and his house on the Breestraat, along with the print collection he had spent a fortune amassing, was sold off to pay his creditors. He was 54, working now from a rented place, and he painted himself here without props or flattery. Look closely at the face and you can see how much paint he pushed around, a bright ridge along the nose, dents dug into the cheeks, shadows almost carved beside the eyes. The furrowed brow and steady gaze belong to a man taking his own measure. He would keep making these self-portraits, more than 40 across his life, until the year he died.