Head of Saint Matthew

After learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting in his native Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn went to Amsterdam in 1624 to study for six months with Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), a famous history painter. Upon completion of his training Rembrandt returned to Leiden. Around 1632 he moved to Amsterdam, quickly establishing himself as the town’s leading artist, specializing in history paintings and portraiture. He received many commissions and attracted a number of students who came to learn his method of painting.

This broad, impressionistic sketch of a bearded old man wearing a beret is one of four oil studies on panel that depict the same model. Traditionally, these works have been considered autograph sketches by Rembrandt in preparation for his painting Saint Matthew and the Angel of 1661, now in the Louvre, Paris. However, since the late 1960s, the attribution of these sketches to Rembrandt has been called into question. It seems probable that this Head of Saint Matthew and the other tronies depicting this figure were made by pupils of Rembrandt while the master was occupied with the Louvre painting.

Credit: Widener Collection