Schets naar zelfportret van Rembrandt

About this artwork

Purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds

Art Historical Context

This delicate sketch on paper by Jean Baptiste Carpeaux captures the French artist’s admiration for Rembrandt van Rijn. Created sometime between 1837 and 1875, the drawing translates one of the Dutch master’s introspective self-portraits into Carpeaux’s own fluid, expressive line. At just 180 by 137 millimeters, the work invites close viewing, revealing how a nineteenth-century sculptor used quick strokes to study light, shadow, and psychological depth. Carpeaux, best known for his dynamic public sculptures in Paris, frequently turned to drawing as a means of learning from earlier masters. By...

About the Artist

Jean Baptiste Carpeaux · 1827–1875

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827–1875) was a French sculptor and painter who became the most dynamic and expressive sculptor of the Second Empire period, bridging the traditions of Romantic sculpture and the emerging naturalism of the later nineteenth century. Born in Valenciennes into a working-class family, he studied at the Petit École and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under François Rude and F...