Portrait of an old man The Old Rabbi Rembrandt Uffizi Gallery Florence Italy
by Wayne Moran
Title
Portrait of an old man The Old Rabbi Rembrandt Uffizi Gallery Florence Italy
Artist
Wayne Moran
Medium
Photograph - Fine Art Photography
Description
Portrait of an old man The Old Rabbi Rembrandt Uffizi Gallery Florence Italy
Signed and dated in 1665, this portrait was created towards the end of Rembrandt's prolific artistic career, much of which was devoted to portrait painting. Indeed, it was as a portrait artist that Rembrandt became known in the 1630s in Amsterdam, where he lived for a long time in the Jewish quarter and often used neighbors and acquaintances as models for his paintings. The face of the old man in the portrait has been identified as that of a Rabbi; indeed, it has been suggested that the portrait can be attributed to a precise figure, Rabi Haham Saul Levy Morteira, but documents do not yet confirm this. In the portrait, Rembrandt studies the psychology of the elder man, emphasizing the detached pensiveness of his expression and the impression of being lost in thoughts, which seem engulfed by the painting's dark background. This tone is emphasized by the artist’s technique, characterized by the use of textured colors spread thickly onto the canvas.
The painting’s quality did not escape the notice of Napoleonic officials and from 1799 to 1815 the painting was transferred to Paris, later returning to Florence in 1834 to be displayed in the Palatine Gallery of the Pitti Palace.
The Uffizi Gallery Florence Italy
The Uffizi Gallery is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of the largest and best known in the world and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.
After the ruling house of Medici died out, their art collections were gifted to the city of Florence under the famous Patto di famiglia negotiated by Anna Maria Luisa, the last Medici heiress. The Uffizi is one of the first modern museums. The gallery had been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public, formally becoming a museum in 1865.
Today, the Uffizi is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Florence and one of the most visited art museums in the world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffizi
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January 12th, 2019
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