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Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669).

Man In A High Cap [Portrait Of Rembrandt’s Father]

1630/c1800 impression. Etching, initialled and dated in plate upper left, 10.1 x 8.5cm.

Ref: Bartsch #321/iii/iii, Hind #22/iii/iii, Nowell-Usticke #321/v/vi.

This etching was made the year Rembrandt’s father died. A prosperous miller and a supportive father of nine children, Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn (1568–1630) was the model for numerous paintings and etchings by Rembrandt. In this etching, he is wearing a Middle Eastern-inspired cap. During the 1630s, Rembrandt, who was “intrigued by the Middle East”, depicted many of his subjects wearing Middle Eastern garments. “By the early seventeenth century the commercial enterprises of Dutch merchants had reached the Middle East, so exotically dressed foreigners were a familiar sight in the streets and marketplaces of Amsterdam. Exotic attire became a fashion fad, and Dutch men, including Rembrandt himself, would sometimes be portrayed wearing similar outfits.”

Interestingly, the family name of “van Rijn” is a Dutch “toponymic surname meaning ‘from (the) Rhine River.’” Ref: Wiki; The Met (NY); NGA (USA).

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Item #CL203-1

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