Old Man with a Gold Chain

This compelling figure—fancifully adorned with a steel gorget (armor protecting the throat and upper chest), golden chain, and plumed beret—represents a new commodity on the Northern European art market: a tronie, or character study. While artists had created such studies since the 1500s, Rembrandt and his colleague Jan Lievens made these images into more affordable alternatives to portraits, heightening their appeal by introducing bold visual elements like dramatic lighting, whimsical costumes, and dynamic poses. Rembrandt and his colleagues painted this model frequently; although he has been called “Rembrandt’s father,” recent research suggests that the “Old Man” may have been the keeper of an almshouse in Leiden, the Netherlands.

Although tronies were less expensive than commissioned portraits, Rembrandt invested just as much skill in them. The attention given to the folds of flesh beneath the eyes, the prickly, tightly trimmed beard, and the highlights in the gorget and gold chain reveal a talented painter engaged in the joys of painting. The prominent gold chain appears in several works from Rembrandt’s Leiden and Amsterdam periods: He must have had one in his studio. But unlike his acclaimed peers Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, Rembrandt never received one as a gift from a royal patron.