Self-portrait with dishevelled hair by Rembrandt

Self-Portrait with Dishevelled Hair is one of Rembrandt's earliest self-portraits, painted around 1628 when the artist was just twenty-two. It hangs in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

Look closely. One side of his face catches a hard bright light while the other sinks into near-darkness. The hair is painted in thick, fast strokes but the skin is smooth and controlled.

This was a study in chiaroscuro, the dramatic use of light and dark that would define Rembrandt's greatest works. It is one of the earliest of more than forty self-portraits he painted across his life. A workshop copy survives in the National Trust collection.

He was nobody yet. He was just practicing. But look at the collar, crisp and white against the darkness. He already knew contrast was everything.