My paraphrase of Rembrandt’s ‘Self-portrait as Paul’. I titled it ‘Rembrandt’s wink‘.
In the original, Rembrandt only has a sword under his cloak; I’ve added another sword. I also moved his studio to the front of his house, so that he has/had a different view.
The 21st century can be discerned vaguely across the street. When I had just started working on the painting, I visited Amsterdam and looked at how the house stands now and what can be seen across the street nowadays.
The most striking thing about that visit was the building next to Van Rijn’s. The accompanying text to an image of a rich man with dark features states that an exhibition is underway on the subject of ‘Being Black in the Time of Rembrandt‘. And the time of the exhibition was being extended …
Bizarre.
Like any famous painter (certainly in those days!) he earned his income by painting all sorts of tributes to powerful rich people and organizations. The suggestion in the title of that exhibition that among those powerful rich people were also non-white people who were depicted differently or not at all because of their skin color is absurd.
The painting is also included in my non-fiction book 49:49.
The most important aspect of the paraphrasing is that my painting shows what Van Rijn is reading: a lesser-known book from the Old Testament. Hence the title ‘Rembrandt’s wink’: I let the old master say here, as it were: you should also take a look at this book of the Bible.
It is extra hard to part with this painting because I have included a greyscale version in my book ’49:49′. It is for sale but it is easily in the top 5 of my most expensive works.
Format: 60cm wide, 60 cm high. Oilpaint on traditional linen canvas.
Send a message via a DM on X.com or TikTok if you want to make a bid.