Valuing it at only $3,100, the auction house thought that the portrait was only a knockoff of a 17th century Rembrandt. Aware of what he was doing was the British buyer that agreed to pay 1,500 times more than that. The bargain price of four and a half million was paid to an English auction house for the Rembrandt Laughing which experts have confirmed to be a self portrait from the Dutch master depicted with his head tilted back in easygoing laughter.
A piece like this one could have easily raked in $30 to $40 million according to a collector who specializes in Dutch and Flemish masters and for him the price given at the auction was rather disappointing. Still the art expert from Sotheby's did not budge when it came to putting a new value on the painting. According to him coming across a work by Rembrandt happens once in a blue moon so this sale in particular is a rare opportunity.
When he was in his early 20s Rembrandt made this self portrait around 1628 while in his hometown of Leiden. Already he was earning his reputation as an artist, and experimenting with a mirror and his own face to capture expressions. Its presence is hard to believe. Aside from the light, the laughter was as natural as could be.
In a span of over 100 years the painting belonged to an English family. Based on assumptions it could have been an imitator or a student of Rembrandt's. A number of poor photographs that showed little of the painting's luminosity or depth are to blame for the low evaluation given by the auction house. For the little work, a 23 page analysis was made to support the claim that all of the materials, contour, brush stroke, and monogram pointed to him and no one else.
Taking note of the rare style used by the painter for only about a year or so, the winner of the auction may have suspected that the painting was a genuine Rembrandt from the monogram RHL. The monogram was short for Rembrandt Harmenszoon of Leiden. Considering the assessment of the auction house, the recorded signature was HL. With regard to these initials they become even more convincing since they are painted onto the background and the brush strokes used match the directionality used by Rembrandt.
Mystifying the experts was the shape of the body of the laughing Rembrandt. The clothing a woolly blanket, metal armor and glossy shirt appear amorphous, lying in lumpy folds with little description of the anatomy below. In his other works he also used the same distinct contour he applied here. If you look at this contour, it has a certain autonomy, said the expert adding that it may have been one of the first times Rembrandt tested out this way of painting the body.
Similar to that of the other Rembrandt paintings, the thin copper plate on which the piece is painted matches the size and type. Rembrandt's paintings all have a second painting underneath and this is what the xrays have revealed for this particular painting. The whereabouts of the painting remained unknown before 1800 and a Flemish engraver attributed the original to the Dutch painter Frans Hals by mistake when he made a reproductive print not recognizing that the image bore the face of Rembrandt. Afterwards the location of the painting again became a mystery.
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