Self-portrait with dishevelled hair

Rembrandt painted this Self-Portrait with Dishevelled Hair around 1628, one of the earliest works in the extraordinary lifelong series of self-portraits that constitutes the most sustained exercise in artistic autobiography in Western art. Working in Leiden before his move to Amsterdam, the twenty-two-year-old Rembrandt used himself as a model for studies of extreme facial expression and dramatic lighting — exercises that were simultaneously artistic training, psychological exploration, and the development of the 'tronie' format (character studies of faces in extreme emotional states) that had commercial value in the Dutch market. The small scale — barely 19 centimetres high — reflects the intimate, experimental character of these early self-studies, which were never intended for formal display. Rembrandt's Leiden contemporary and rival Jan Lievens was making similar self-portrait studies at exactly the same period, and the two artists' competitive parallel development produced remarkable results before Rembrandt's move to Amsterdam in 1631 established his dominance. The Rijksmuseum's holding of the canvas appropriately places it in the national collection of the country whose Golden Age it documents.

The rapid, spontaneous brushwork and the strong raking light that catches the wild curls of hair demonstrate the young Rembrandt's experimental approach to paint handling and dramatic lighting effects.