Head of Christ

Head of Christ

Head of Christ
Artist:Style of Rembrandt (Dutch, 1650s)
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:16 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. (42.5 x 34.3 cm); with added strips 18 5/8 x 14 5/8 in. (47.3 x 37.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Mr. and Mrs. Isaac D. Fletcher Collection, Bequest of Isaac D. Fletcher, 1917

Rembrandt painted this subject a number of times; three examples, one described as "Een Christus tonie nae't leven" ("a head of Christ done from life," that is, from a model probably found in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam), were cited in the 1656 inventory of the artist's possessions. Of the dozen bust-length portraits of Christ known today, only the small panel in Berlin is universally accepted, but several others are obviously the work of pupils. The present picture, which is sensitive both in conception and execution, must be either by Rembrandt or by one of his most gifted followers. The issue, as so often is the case, is complicated by the fact that the paint surface has been flattened and badly abraded.

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