Self-Portrait in a Cap, Open-Mouthed

Rembrandt van Rijn

National Gallery of Art

Printed with black ink on ivory-white paper, the round face of a young man with wide open eyes and pursed lips almost fills this vertical etching. His face and hair are rendered in detail but only a few details of his clothing are sketched in. He appears to look at us from over his left shoulder with his head tipped very slightly back. His eyebrows are raised and gathered together, and the whites of his eyes show over his irises. He has a rounded nose, and his pursed lips are slightly parted under a wispy mustache. His short hair curls out from under a dark, floppy cap.