Self-portrait with dishevelled hair

The painting was created by Rembrandt around 1628, when the artist was about twenty-two years old, and is regarded as the earliest known painted self-portrait by him. Both the Rijksmuseum and the Rembrandt Research Project date the panel to circa 1628, with P. van Thiel (1989) considering a date of 1628 probable while retaining the cautious "circa 1628" attribution.

On 27 May 1959 the work was sold in London through the auction house Sotheby's to the art dealer Daan H. Cevat for 1,700 British pounds. In 1960 it was placed on loan to the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, and in 1977 the museum acquired it definitively for 1.8 million guilders. The purchase was supported by the Rembrandt Foundation, the Foundation for the Advancement of the Interests of the Rijksmuseum, the Prince Bernhard Fund, the Photo Sales Committee, and the Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Social Work.

A workshop copy of the painting is held in the collection of the National Trust.

The painting is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. It entered the museum in 1960 on loan from art dealer Daan H. Cevat, who had acquired it at a Sotheby's auction in London on 27 May 1959 for £1,700. The Rijksmuseum purchased the work outright in 1977 for 1.8 million guilders, with support from the Rembrandt Foundation, the Foundation for the Advancement of the Interests of the Rijksmuseum, the Prince Bernhard Fund, the Photo Sales Committee, and the Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Social Work.

No specific exhibition history is provided in the sources beyond its continuous presence at the Rijksmuseum since 1960.

Rembrandt created this early self-portrait when he was about twenty-two years old, making it one of his first known painted likenesses. It belongs to a series of more than forty painted self-portraits he produced throughout his career, alongside numerous drawings and etchings that often served as studies for facial expressions and lighting effects. The work exemplifies his experimentation with chiaroscuro, using strong backlighting to illuminate only parts of his face and clothing while leaving the forehead and eyes in shadow.

Rembrandt employed varied paint textures, thick, pasty strokes where light struck the neck and ear, and thinner layers in deeper shadow, to render the subtle effects of light on skin, hair, and a plastered wall in the background. Technical analysis shows he used the back of his brush to lift wet paint and suggest individual strands of hair, demonstrating a high level of observational precision for a young artist. The painting remained in private hands until 1959, when it was sold at Sotheby's in London, and was acquired by the Rijksmuseum in 1977 with support from several Dutch cultural funds.

The work has become a reference point for understanding Rembrandt's early technical experimentation and psychological depth in self-portraiture. Its distinctive use of chiaroscuro to model facial features and texture, particularly in rendering hair and fabric, influenced later artists' approaches to light and surface treatment. The painting's survival and continued scholarly attention, including its acquisition by the Rijksmuseum with major funding support, cemented its status as a pivotal early work in the artist's oeuvre.

It remains a key example cited in studies of Dutch Golden Age portraiture and the evolution of self-representation.

This oil painting, titled Self‑Portrait with Dishevelled Hair, is an early work by Rembrandt van Rijn created during the Dutch Golden Age. Executed in a modest size, it presents a young man with unruly curls, a solemn gaze, and a face turned slightly away from the viewer. The composition is dominated by a dark, unadorned background that concentrates attention on the illuminated features of the sitter.