For the portrait, a value of $3,100 was set by the auction house because they thought they had a knockoff of a 17th century Rembrandt. There was actually a British buyer who knew what he was doing when he paid 1,500 times more than that. Experts have confirmed that Rembrandt Laughing, bought for a bargain price of Four and a half million at an English auction house in is a self portrait by the Dutch master, depicted with his head tilted back in easygoing laughter.
Rather disappointed with how much the piece was sold for in the auction was a collector who specializes in Dutch and Flemish masters for he says that it could have easily been worth $30 to $40 million. There was a refusal from the art expert from Sotheby's when it came to putting a new price on the painting. Such a sale is a rare opportunity for coming across a work by Rembrandt does not happen as often only coming on the market every few years.
In his hometown of Leiden was where Rembrandt painted the self portrait and he was in his early 20s then in 1628. Here he was already establishing himself as an artist and he made use of a mirror and his face in order to capture several different expressions. Amazing is what kind of presence it has. Possessing the most natural quality was the light and the laughter.
Over 100 years was how long an English family previously owned the painting. A number of people thought that it was one of Rembrandt's students or his imitator. The low evaluation from the auction house could have been caused by poor photographs only showing a little of the painting's luminosity or depth. When it comes to this little work, a 23 page analysis explained how Rembrandt could have been the only one responsible for the piece because of the brush stroke, monogram, contour, and materials.
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. Rembrandt Harmenszoon of Leiden was what the monogram stood for. In its assessment, the auction house recorded the signature HL. Even more convincing are these initials that are painted onto the background and possess the same directionality in brush strokes as the other monograms identified with Rembrandt.
Experts also were confused by the shape of the laughing Rembrandt's body. There was little definition of the anatomy below other than it having a woolly blanket for clothing, lying in lumpy folds, and the metal armor and glossy shirt appearing amorphous. Here he applied a contour which had a character of its own and used it in his later works. Rembrandt was probably trying out this method of painting the body for the first time for the contour has a certain autonomy to it.
Similar to that of the other Rembrandt paintings, the thin copper plate on which the piece is painted matches the size and type. When it comes to the xrays, the piece has a second painting underneath and this is consistent with other paintings by Rembrandt. It was before 1800 and the painting's whereabouts remained unknown and during this time a Flemish engraver made a mistake and attributed the original to the Dutch painter Frans Hals when he made a reproductive print not realizing how the face in the picture was that of Rembrandt's. With silence afterwards the painting's location again became unknown.
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Learn more on the topic of portrait painting from photograph . For further insights on oil paintings large be sure to visit that site.
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