Self-portrait with Saskia.

During his lifetime, Rembrandt's extraordinary skills as a printmaker were the main source of his international fame. Unlike his oil paintings, prints travelled light and were relatively cheap. For this reason, they soon became very popular with collectors not only within, but also beyond the borders of the Netherlands, and it also explains why, three centuries later, they were affordable for Wellington collector and philanthropist Sir John Ilott, who presented 37 Rembrandt prints to the National Art Gallery between 1952 and 1969.

In this etching, both the artist and his wife are shown wearing historical clothing. Rembrandt wears a fanciful 16th-century style plumed beret tilted at a jaunty angle and a fur-trimmed overcoat, while Saskia wears an old-fashioned veil. Such play-acting was not unusual for Rembrandt who only twice represented himself in the manner that was most popular at the time, as a contemporary Amsterdam gentleman.

In addition to serving as one of many self-portraits, this small etching can also be regarded as an example of a marriage portrait. The young woman shown seated at the table with Rembrandt is his wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, then in her early twenties. Rembrandt most likely met Saskia while working for her cousin, Hendrick Uylenburgh, an art dealer who had a workshop in Amsterdam. They had married on 22 June 1634, two years before this etching, and remained together for eight years until Saskia's untimely death at the age of 30. Surprisingly, it is the only etching that Rembrandt ever made of Saskia and himself together.

The two figures are presented in half-length, seated around a table before a plain background. Rembrandt dominates the image as he engages the viewer with a serious expression. The brim of his hat casts a dark shadow over his eyes, which adds an air of mystery to his countenance. Saskia, rendered on a smaller scale and appearing rather self-absorbed, sits behind him. It's almost as if we have interrupted the couple as they enjoy a quiet moment in their daily life.

Rembrandt, however, has transformed the traditional marriage portrait into something more inventive. This etching marks the first time that Rembrandt has presented himself as an artist at work. In his left hand he holds a porte-crayon (a two-ended chalk holder) and appears to have been drawing on the sheet of paper before him. By identifying himself as a draftsman, Rembrandt draws attention to his mastery of what was regarded as the most important basic skill of an artist. Is he drawing Saskia or is she simply there to support and inspire her husband as he works? While the marks on his paper don't provide conclusive evidence of his subject, Saskia would sit for her husband on numerous occasions.

This is a very late impression, from the third of four states of the etching plate and was made many years years after the original, but before the plate was rebitten in the Parisian workshop of Henri Louis Basan at the very end of the 18th century. Te Papa owns two other impressions of this etching, one, presented by Bishop Ditlev Monrad to the Colonial Museum and forming part of the foundation art collection (1869-0001-394), and the other also presented by Harold Wright (1965-0012-28), which is the highest quality of the three.

References:

New Hollstein Dutch 158, 3rd of 4 states; Hollstein Dutch 19, 3rd of 3 states

See: Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/reformation-counter-reformation/a/rembrandt-s elf-portrait-with-saskia

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    August 2017