All sorts of little revelations are coming out of the current Rembrandt/Freud exhibition. For example, I’ve always associated berets with artists, but I’ve only recently found out where the association comes from.
Rembrandt, as it turns out, sported a beret in many of his self-portraits, I think for several reasons. Firstly, he was crazy about fancy dress and the way it could evoke far away times and places. Secondly, he usually wore a specific hat – German in origin, which had gone out of style almost 100 years before. This might have been a way for him to show his connection to the long tradition of northern European painting he felt heir to. Finally, the large floppy hat casts a shadow over the face, creating the mystery and ambiguity that he loved.
His students picked up on the hat idea and soon it had become a key part of an artist’s ‘uniform’.
Rembrandt van Rijn
(Dutch, 1606-1669)
Self-Portrait with Saskia
1638
etching on laid paper
9.8 x 9.5 cm
Art Gallery of Ontario,
Gift of Esther and Sam Sarick, 2006.
© 2009 Art Gallery of Ontario