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Self-Portrait with Two Circles
Oil on canvas (c.1665–1669) by Rembrandt van Rijn; the artist depicted at work before two large background circles whose meaning remains debated. Held at Kenwood House, London. One of his most enigmatic and powerful late self-portraits.
Scholarly Significance
Late Rembrandt self-portrait, widely considered among the greatest self-portraits in Western art history.
Notes
- ·The two large circles in the background have been interpreted as cartographic hemispheres, a Giottesque perfect circle legend, or simply compositional elements.
- ·Widely regarded as one of Rembrandt's most psychologically penetrating late works.
- ·Bequeathed to the nation by Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, 1927.