Head of Christ (Rembrandt, Abu Dhabi)

Head of Christ
Head of Christ (Rembrandt, Abu Dhabi)
Year	c. 1648
Medium	oil paint, panel
Dimensions	25.5 cm (10.0 in) × 20.1 cm (7.9 in)
Location	Louvre Abu Dhabi
Collection	Louvre Abu Dhabi, Kunsthandel P. de Boer
Identifiers	RKDimages ID: 268742

Head of Christ is a circa 1648 painting by Rembrandt or his workshop. It shows Christ with a beard and long dark hair. It is in the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Description

Rembrandt created several similar heads of the same model in varying poses, possibly as devotional objects. Today about a dozen are known. This one remained in private hands until 2019, when it came into the collection via purchase at Sotheby's in London for a hammer price of 9,480,800 GBP. This face of Christ relates very closely to the version at the Gemäldegalerie, long considered the primary version. Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wetering calls this one autograph or by a Rembrandt pupil.

This painting was overlooked by Wilhelm Valentiner in his 1908 catalog, as he explored the idea of a series of rotations of the heads of the same model. In this series he chose the similarly posed head of the Hyde Collection version substituted for this one in his row of five (he chose Philadelphia, then Berlin, Detroit, Hyde, and finally, New York). He worked in New York, so he was most familiar with the Hyde and New York versions.

Valentiner lineup:

• 
  Philadelphia
• 
  Berlin
• 
  DIA
• 
  Hyde Collection
• 
  New York

It was included by Abraham Bredius in 1935, who included it in his 1935 catalog as one of nine heads of Christ, with his own version as the prime version.

Bredius lineup:

• 
  Bredius version
• 
  DIA
• 
  Berlin
• 
  Amsterdam Bible Museum version
• 
  Philadelphia
• 
  This one
• 
  New York
• 
  Hyde Collection

In his response to the Bredius catalog, it was included by Horst Gerson in 1968, who included it as one of only four heads of Christ by the master, the others being the Bredius version, the Detroit version and the New York version.

Gerson lineup:

• 
  Bredius version
• 
  This one
• 
  DIA
• 
  New York

The painting was included in the 2011 exhibition "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" held in the museums of Detroit (DIA), Philadelphia (PMA) and Paris (Louvre) April 21, 2011 – February 12, 2012, no. 41.

• 
  Bredius
• 
  Philadelphia
• 
  DIA
• 
  Berlin
• 
  New York
• 
  Hyde collection
• 
  Fogg
• 
  Brigham Young University

References

• Rembrandt et la figure du Christ/Rembrandt and the face of Jesus, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 21 April 2011 – 18 July 2011, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 3 August 2011 – 30 October 2011, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 20 November 2011 – 12 February 2012, ISBN 978-88-89854-71-6, cat.no. 41.

External links

• Head of Christ, ca. 1648 in the RKD
• Rembrandt's Heads of Christ on Louvre website