Original etching signed and dated top left 'Rembrandt. f 1648'
Bibliography: Hind 229; Biörlund, 48; White & Boon, B22 . (mm. 163x131).
Splendid in the fifth state out of five, from the Basan edition, printed on laid paper. In excellent condition with a margin of 1 to 2 millimeters all around beyond the copper imprint.
The Self-Portrait at the Window, dated 1648 in the second state, is Rembrandt's first engraved self-portrait after the Self-Portrait at the Windowsill of 1639. It recounts the changes that occurred in the man and his style over the course of nine years. The artist no longer poses himself as a courtier, nor does he refer to the great painters of the Italian Renaissance. He paints himself without frills, working next to an open window. His hair has been cut short, his beard is shaved, and he wears simple clothes. Instead of the baroque emphasis given to the occupation of space by the body, with the figure perpendicular to the plane, with the head turned, in the 1648 composition he is seen frontally, with a wide-brimmed hat on his head replacing the elegant cap of the previous etching. Here Rembrandt seems to be staring at the viewer, but in reality, the gaze we see is the one with which he studies his image reflected in a mirror, to reproduce it on the copper plate placed on the table at which the artist sits.