''Head of Christ'' is a circa 1648 painting by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

or his workshop. It shows Christ with a beard and long dark hair. It is in the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Description

created several similar heads of the same model in varying poses, possibly as devotional objects. Today about a dozen are known. This one remained in private hands until 2019, when it came into the collection via purchase at Sotheby's in London for a hammer price of 9,480,800 GBP. This face of Christ relates very closely to the version at the Gemäldegalerie, long considered the primary version. Rembrandt expert

Ernst van de Wetering Ernst van de Wetering (9 March 1938 – 11 August 2021) was a Dutch art historian and an expert on Rembrandt and his work. Background Ernst van de Wetering was born in Hengelo. He was first trained as an artist at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts ...

calls this one autograph or by a Rembrandt pupil.Ernst van de Wetering, Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, ''Rembrandt's Paintings revisited. A complete survey'', Dordrecht, 2015, pp. 605–09, no. 217b (as Rembrandt or pupil) This painting was overlooked by

Wilhelm Valentiner William Reinhold Valentiner (May 2, 1880 – September 6, 1958) was a German-American art historian, art critic and museum administrator. He was educated and trained in Europe, first working at the Mauritshuis in The Hague and at museums in Berli ...

in his 1908 catalog, as he explored the idea of a series of rotations of the heads of the same model. In this series he chose the similarly posed head of the

Hyde Collection The Hyde Collection is an art museum in the city of Glens Falls in Upstate New York. The collections were endowed by the Hyde family. The museum is housed in a historic refurbished early twentieth-century residence, the Hyde House, located at ...

version substituted for this one in his row of five (he chose Philadelphia, then Berlin, Detroit, Hyde, and finally, New York). He worked in New York, so he was most familiar with the Hyde and New York versions. Valentiner lineup: File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch (active Leiden and Amsterdam) - Head of Christ - Google Art Project.jpg, Philadelphia File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 048.jpg, Berlin File:Rembrandt - Head of Christ - DIA.jpg, DIA File:Rembrandt - Christ with Hands Folded 1971.37.jpg, Hyde Collection File:Head of Christ MET DP145916.jpg,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

It was included by Abraham Bredius in 1935, who included it in his 1935 catalog as one of nine heads of Christ, with his own version as the prime version. Bredius lineup: File:Christ, by circle of Rembrandt van Rijn.jpg, Bredius version File:Rembrandt - Head of Christ - DIA.jpg, DIA File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 048.jpg, Berlin File:Head of Christ - Bijbels Museum Amsterdam.jpg, Amsterdam Bible Museum version File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch (active Leiden and Amsterdam) - Head of Christ - Google Art Project.jpg, Philadelphia File:Rembrandt Oil Study of Christ.jpg, This one File:Head of Christ MET DP145916.jpg, New York File:Rembrandt - Christ with Hands Folded 1971.37.jpg, Hyde Collection In his response to the Bredius catalog, it was included by

Horst Gerson Horst Gerson (2 March 1907 – 10 June 1978) was a German-Dutch art historian. Biography Gerson was born in Berlin on 2 March 1907, and after studying art history in Vienna, he became a pupil and assistant of Cornelis Hofstede de Groot and worke ...

in 1968, who included it as one of only four heads of Christ by the master, the others being the Bredius version, the Detroit version and the

version. Gerson lineup: File:Christ, by circle of Rembrandt van Rijn.jpg, Bredius version File:Rembrandt Oil Study of Christ.jpg, This one File:Rembrandt - Head of Christ - DIA.jpg, DIA File:Head of Christ MET DP145916.jpg, New York The painting was included in the 2011 exhibition "''Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus''" held in the museums of Detroit (DIA), Philadelphia (PMA) and Paris (Louvre) April 21, 2011 – February 12, 2012, no. 41. File:Christ, by circle of Rembrandt van Rijn.jpg, Bredius File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch (active Leiden and Amsterdam) - Head of Christ - Google Art Project.jpg, Philadelphia File:Rembrandt - Head of Christ - DIA.jpg, DIA File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 048.jpg, Berlin File:Head of Christ MET DP145916.jpg,

File:Rembrandt - Christ with Hands Folded 1971.37.jpg, Hyde collection File:Rembrandt - Head of Christ - Fogg Museum.jpg, Fogg File:Rembrandt - Head of Christ - BYU.jpg, Brigham Young University

References

* ''Rembrandt et la figure du Christ/Rembrandt and the face of Jesus'', Musée du Louvre, Paris, 21 April 2011 – 18 July 2011, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 3 August 2011 – 30 October 2011, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 20 November 2011 – 12 February 2012, , cat.no. 41.

External links

''Head of Christ, ca. 1648''
in the RKD
Rembrandt's ''Heads of Christ''
on Louvre website {{DEFAULTSORT:Head of Christ Paintings by Rembrandt 1650s paintings Louvre Abu Dhabi