Sheet with studies of a tree and the upper part of the head of the artist in a velvet cap, by Rembrandt

An image of Sheet with studies of a tree and the upper part of the head of the artist in a velvet cap. Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669). Etching, black carbon ink on laid paper, support; chainlines horizontal (head upright; 22.5 mm), height, plate, 68 mm, width, plate, 79 mm; height, sheet, 68 mm, width, sheet, 79 mm, circa 1638-1640. Production Note: Only state. Notes(s): As the head in this print is almost identical to that in the 'Self-portrait in a velvet cap with a plume' of 1638, it seems likely that it was executed around this date. Rembrandt's sheets of etched studies were intended to imitate the effect of drawn sheets of spontaneous studies, highly valued by collectors in the seventeenth century. The 'chance' arrangement of the studies was carefully calculated. Alternative Number(s): Hollstein (Dutch/Flemish); B372 Only state. Biörklund/Barnard; BB42-1 Only state. Lugt; 932.

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Sheet with studies of a tree and the upper part of the head of the artist in a velvet cap. Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669). Etching, black carbon ink on laid paper, support; chainlines horizontal (head upright; 22.5 mm), height, plate, 68 mm, width, plate, 79 mm; height, sheet, 68 mm, width, sheet, 79 mm, circa 1638-1640. Production Note: Only state. Notes(s): As the head in this print is almost identical to that in the 'Self-portrait in a velvet cap with a plume' of 1638, it seems likely that it was executed around this date. Rembrandt's sheets of etched studies were intended to imitate the effect of drawn sheets of spontaneous studies, highly valued by collectors in the seventeenth century. The 'chance' arrangement of the studies was carefully calculated. Alternative Number(s): Hollstein (Dutch/Flemish); B372 Only state. Biörklund/Barnard; BB42-1 Only state. Lugt; 932.

Image data

Accession Number: 23.K.5-454
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal length: 120
Camera: Hasselblad H4D-31
Photographer name: Sam Cole
Image height: 1025 pixels
Image width: 895 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
Filesize: 1.02MB
Exposure time: 1/125
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 22/1
Captured: 2018:02:13 11:55:36

Key words

17th Century artists caps Dutch etching Fitz_PDP hats portraits print Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn self portrait trees velvet cap

Citation for print

This page can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:


            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025)
            "Sheet with studies of a tree and the upper part of the head of the artist in a velvet cap, by Rembrandt"
            Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-213163 Accessed: 2025-12-27 07:44:43

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this page on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:


            {{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-213163
            |title=Sheet with studies of a tree and the upper part of the head of the artist in a velvet cap, by Rembrandt
            |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-27 07:44:43|publisher=The
            University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/images/media-213163

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp81/23_K_5_454_1_201802_sjc288_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Sheet with studies of a tree and the upper part of the head of the artist in a velvet cap"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Sheet with studies of a tree and the upper part of the head of the artist in a velvet cap, by Rembrandt</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>