Portrait of a man, perhaps Rembrandt's father, Harmen Gerritsz van Rijn

Portrait of a Man, Perhaps Rembrandt's Father from 1634 in the Rijksmuseum, is one of several works in that collection that carry the traditional identification with family members whose faces Rembrandt used as models throughout his early career. The identification is more uncertain than it might appear: Harmen Gerritsz van Rijn, Rembrandt's father, died in 1630, and the man depicted here looks considerably older than the father would have been at the time. The more likely explanation is that Rembrandt used an elderly model from his Amsterdam neighborhood who bore some resemblance to his memory of his father, or that the identification developed later as collectors and dealers attributed faces to known subjects. Whatever the biographical status, the portrait is characteristic of the early Amsterdam manner: warm tonal range, controlled sidelight, the face modeled with careful attention to the specific textures of aged skin and white hair.

Rembrandt renders the elderly man with characteristic warmth and attention, using focused lighting to model the aged features while the dark costume and background create a dignified, contemplative mood.