Study of an Old Man

Follower of Rembrandt van Rijn

National Gallery of Art

A man with thick, tousled gray hair and a long beard squared off at the bottom bows his head toward us in this vertical painting. His head and chest nearly fill the canvas against a background that lightens from black in the upper left corner to muted, amber brown in the upper right. Against the surrounding darkness, light falls across the peach-colored flesh of his forehead, right cheek, and nose. His heavy gray brows are drawn together, and they cast shadows over his deep-set eyes. The dark irises moving to our right are just visible. Loose brushstrokes sketch short, gray curls, a few of them streaked with white, covering the top of his head. One gray lock falling down his right temple curls up and out. Gray and tan strokes define individual curling strands of his beard and moustache. His chestnut-brown garment blends into the dark background.