Bust of a man in oriental dress

The original, signed and dated 1633, on panel, oval, 85.8 x 63.8 cm, is in the Bayerische Staatsgemälde Sammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, München, inv.no.421 (J. Bruyn etc., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, II, 1986, p.344-50, no.A73, with ill.). It belongs to a group of so-called 'tronies' executed by Rembrandt in the early 1630's in Amsterdam under the influence of Jan Lievens. A 'tronie' was not meant as a portrait but as a study in the depiction of facial expressions. To enhance the irreality of the figure, they were dressed in richly ornamented oriental style garments. As such it is to be compared with the 'Man in oriental costume' of 1632 in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (G. Schwartz, Rembrandt, his Life, his Paintings, 1985, p.199, fig.217). As the latter picture, the 'Bust of a man in oriental dress', lacking regular bevelling of the panel, must originally have been rectangular and in a later stage cut down to an oval. The present rectangular copy would confirm this. For 19th century copiists as Quaglio the 'tronies' must have executed a special appeal because of the alternation of thick impastos and thin translucent areas relating to the rendering of the light on the face and materials.

See illustration