• Rembrandt. "Hidden" Portraits

One of the only three Rembrandt self-portraits in the possession of a private individual was auctioned on Tuesday by the Sotheby's for £ 14.5 million ($ 18.7 million, € 16 million).

The 15 by 20 cm painting, signed and dated in 1632 by the great Flemish master , represents him at 26 years old, dressed in ceremonial clothes, in black, with a felt hat and a white lace collar.

The painting was not authenticated until 1996 , after an analysis that showed that he did it on the same oak wood as the support for another portrait, which he made of his friend Maurits Huygens .

For Sotheby's George Gordon , the formal outfit, rare in the artist's dozens of self-portraits, suggests that he may have wanted to be elegant to woo who would become his muse and wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh , and convince his parents. that it was a good match for his daughter.

Painted shortly after moving to Amsterdam , the self-portrait could also serve as a kind of business card, showing potential clients its burgeoning situation.

According to Gordon, he did it in a very short time , since the bottom hadn't finished drying when Rembrandt signed it.

With a calendar complicated by the pandemic, Sotheby's decided to hold a single night auction, in which it gathers more than 500 pieces from all periods , from some of ancient masters to contemporaries.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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