Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul

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Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul: Rembrandt

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Rembrandt Oil Painting - Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul

Keywords: Self, portrait, Apostle, Paul

Work Overview: Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul
Dutch: Zelfportret als de apostel Paulus
Artist Rembrandt
Year 1661
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 91 cm × 77 cm (36 in × 30 in)
Location Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul (Dutch: Zelfportret als de apostel Paulus) is one of over 40 painted self-portraits by Rembrandt, painted in 1661 by the Dutch artist Rembrandt. It is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

In this self-portrait of 1661 Rembrandt endeavoured to convey the emotion of the writer who desires to hearten the recipients of his epistles but is himself imprisoned and knows he will die by the sword.

The figure is identified as St Paul by the hilt of a sword (his traditional attribute) appearing in the opening of his coat. A book or, as here, a sheaf of papers, symbolizing the word of God, is also usually associated with St Paul. It was comparatively rare for artists to depict themselves as saints; it might be considered to smack of pride. This is not to imply that Rembrandt glorifies himself in the present instance. On the contrary, the mood of his Self-Portrait as St Paul is sombre in the extreme, and in this respect it is like the majority of the religious paintings and etchings of his late period.

This is Rembrandt’s first and only self portrait in the guise of a biblical figure. The manuscript and the sword projecting from his cloak are Paul’s traditional attributes. Like the other apostles Rembrandt painted in the same period, Paul too is a real, everyday person. By using his own likeness here Rembrandt encourages a direct bond with the saint.

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