(re)Acting Rembrandt
The whole face has a life. Showing the whites of the eyes and opening the mouth in disbelief, Rembrandt’s face is acting. Or better re-acting. It’s as if I gave him a start coming from behind the corner, and he had exclaimed ‘Goodness! You gave me quite a turn, creeping up like that!’
Two unconventional self-portraits for a twofold problem
How these two Baroque self-portraits, which resort to the personification of Painting to frame the artist as an object of admiration – or, someone may say, to divert viewers’ gaze from a face that didn’t launch a thousand ships – connect to one another despite all their notable differences?