A Polish Nobleman

A bearded man in a fur-edged cap and a heavy fur-collared coat turns his head over his shoulder, his dark eyes meeting the viewer from a pool of shadow. Rembrandt van Rijn painted this arresting half-length portrait in 1637, and though the sitter’s identity is unknown — the title is a traditional one rather than a documented rank — the picture has long stood as one of his most immediate character studies, alive with the bravura handling and the gold, white and deep brown of his finest middle years. It passed through the collection of Catherine the Great in Saint Petersburg before entering the Andrew W. Mellon Collection in Washington. The painting is held in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.