Self-portrait Leaning on a Stone-sill (II/II)

This ambitious etching borrows heavily from two Italian Renaissance portraits. Rembrandt's pose, with his body in profile, his face turned towards the viewer and his arm resting on a ledge, as well as the way the light hits the side of the face closer to the viewer, are directly inspired by Titian's Portrait of Gerolamo (?) Barbarigo, c.1510 (National Gallery, London). Rembrandt's cap and ornate Renaissance costume with fur detailing are influenced by Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, c.1514-15 (Musée du Louvre, Paris). Curiously, in the late 1630s both paintings were in Amsterdam and Rembrandt made a sketch of the Raphael while it was in the city.

Rembrandt has depicted himself in the guise of a Renaissance Italian nobleman wearing rich clothing and a crucifix. The ledge at the front of the image creates the illusion of a space within the space. Rembrandt's voluminous sleeve overhanging the ledge, borrowed from Titian, breaks through this imaginary barrier and into the viewer's space.