Rembrandt Laughing
Rembrandt Laughing is a oil on copper painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It is an elaborate study of a laughing face, a tronie, and, since it represents the painter himself, one of over 40 self-portraits by Rembrandt, probably the earliest elaborate one. The painting, which was only recently discovered, is now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, California. Description The painting shows a laughing man, bareheaded, with his head tilted back, dressed in a deep purple robe, surrounded by a rougher brown woolen cape. He also wears a polished metal gorget, a piece of armor which is protecting the throat. The man's face has the features of the young Rembrandt, shown as a laughing soldier. His hair is long, "fluffy", light and dark blond, as in other Rembrandt portraits of the period (e.g. Self-Portrait in a Gorget in Nuremberg). He is looking directly at the viewer. The brushwork is sure, sensitive, spontaneous and bold, sometimes precise, sometimes broad and loose, and it clearly reveals the hand of a genius, who precisely knows how to best capture the transitory reaction of laughing. History of the painting Similar to many other Dutch paintings of the 17th century, the early stage of this painting's life in Holland, after it left Rembrandt's Leiden studio in which it was created, is not known. Still, the painting was previously known from the late 18th, or, more probably, early 19th century print by Flemish engraver Lambertus Antonius Claessens, who reproduced it as a work by Franz Hals. In the 18th or 19th century it was owned by a French collector who wrote an inscription on its back: "Democrite Philosophe [?] son [?] profonde meditation des (de?) [?] faiblesses (?) [?] tous ensemble. Nous concevons mille différ? nous formons mille projets que nous ne (?) pouvons executer. C?est une espece de folie r[?] ce Philosophe Je (se?) ris." Despite that explanation, the painting is probably not representing Rembrandt as the laughing philosopher Democritus, because in the Dutch painting of the period, he is regularly shown with a globe. After that, the painting was lost, and its whereabouts unknown. Thanks to the Claessen's print, it was mentioned in 1933 in Kurt Bauch's book on Rembrandt, and even before that, in Ernest Wilhelm Moes's book on Dutch painting. In 2007, it suddenly appeared in an auction in Gloucestershire, England, but just as the work of "a follower of Rembrandt". The reason was that although photos of the painting had been emailed to the experts at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam before the sale, "their response was pretty dismissive", as auctioneer Philip Allwood has said. So the painting was estimated at just £1000-1500, but was sold for £2.2 m. In 2013 the painting was sold to the Getty Museum in California for £16.5m Attribution Although from the very first sight it is clear that this painting is a masterpiece, it was still necessary to prove that it was painted by Rembrandt himself. To that end Ernst van de Wetering,