Rembrandt, 'An Elderly Man as Saint Paul', probably 1659

An Elderly Man as Saint Paul

Rembrandt

Room 22

About the work

Overview

Rembrandt’s pensive Saint Paul belongs to a series of half-length pictures of religious figures that the artist painted in the late 1650s and early 1660s. The dark picture is devoid of unnecessary details, but the saint’s traditional attributes are just about visible: an open book sits on the table in front of him and a sword leans on the wall behind him.

A roundel in the upper left depicts an angel interrupting Abraham, who is about to sacrifice his son Isaac on God’s order. This important Old Testament episode was favoured by Rembrandt, who painted and etched it before including it here. For Saint Paul, the sacrifice was an example of faith in God. In Protestant theology, Saint Paul was considered the most authoritative interpreter of the Gospel – a possible reason for Rembrandt’s fascination with the apostle.

In-depth

Between the late 1650s and early 1660s Rembrandt painted a series of intimate half-length pictures of religious figures. He seems to have been particularly fascinated by Saint Paul, and even painted himself in the guise of the apostle in 1661 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Theologians from the various Protestant denominations in Rembrandt’s Holland also actively engaged with Saint Paul, considering him the most important authority for interpreting the Gospel. The Paul we see here is not a self portrait. It has been suggested that the painting is a portrait of a contemporary sitter in the guise of Paul, a so-called portrait historié; alternatively, Rembrandt may have used a model instead of creating an imaginative depiction of the apostle.

Saint Paul stares outward, the red hat and his distinctive grey hair and beard framing a pensive face. His hands folded in prayer are a prominent feature that lights up the lower half of the picture. The saint’s traditional attributes, just about visible in the darkness, are what identify him: a book sits open on the table in front of him, and the sword of his martyrdom leans against the wall behind, next to a door opening.

On close examination, there’s another detail that identifies this man as Saint Paul. Above the sword, Rembrandt has painted a sculpted bas-relief roundel that depicts Abraham about to sacrifice his son Isaac on God’s instruction. An angel intervenes, preventing the murder. Rembrandt painted this exact moment some decades earlier, in a picture now in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; he also made an etching of the subject in 1655, with which the painted roundel shares some formal similarities. Another roundel appears to the right of Paul here, but it is badly rubbed and we are not sure if it once contained a related episode from the Old Testament. Both roundels were only rediscovered when the picture was cleaned in 1945–6.

Saint Paul praised Abraham’s response to the test of faith in his Epistle to the Hebrews (11: 17–20), and considered Abraham’s faith an example of piety. By including the attempted sacrifice, Rembrandt introduced in his painting what in Christian theology is called typology; that is, relating an Old Testament event or figure to a New Testament one and examining the relationship between the two. El Greco used the sacrifice of Isaac similarly in Christ driving the Traders from the Temple, also in the National Gallery’s collection.

Rembrandt’s painting is dominated by dark brown and ochre tones, typical of the master at this stage of his career. The picture is signed and dated to the right of Paul’s head, and although there is some loss here, the last digit is probably a ‘9’, dating the painting to 1659.

Key facts

Details

Full title: An Elderly Man as Saint Paul
Artist: Rembrandt
Artist dates: 1606 - 1669
Date made: probably 1659
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 102 × 85.5 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit: Bequeathed by Lord Colborne, 1854
Inventory number: NG243
Location: Room 22
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Nicholas William Ridley-Colborne, Baron Colborne of West Harling
Frame: 17th-century Dutch Frame

Provenance

In the collection of N. W. Ridley Colborne (later Lord Colborne) by 1815, when it was exhibited at the BI; Lord Colborne Bequest, 1854.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2017

Rubens and Rembrandt

The National Gallery (London)

22 March 2017 - 6 August 2017
2018

A Dutch Golden Age: Painters, Places and People in the 17th Century

Cannon Hall Museum, Park and Gardens

16 June 2018 - 16 September 2018
2019

Rembrandt and Amsterdam portraiture, 1590-1670

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza

18 February 2020 - 30 August 2020

Bibliography

1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1877

C. Vosmaer, Rembrandt: Sa vie et ses oeuvres, La Haye 1877
1893

É. Michel, Rembrandt, sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps, Paris 1893
1897

W. von Bode and C. Hofstede de Groot, The Complete Work of Rembrandt, 8 vols, Paris 1897
1907

C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1969

B. Haak, Rembrandt: His Life, His Work, His Times, London 1969
1969

G. Martin, 'The Death of a Myth', Apollo, XC, 1969, pp. 266-7
1971

W. Sumowski, 'Rembrandt-Zeichnungen', Pantheon, XXIX, 1971, pp. 125-38
1972

K. Roberts, 'London Exhibition Review', The Burlington Magazine, CXIV/830, 1972
1973

J.Q. van Regteren Altena, 'Rembrandts Persönlichkeit', in O. von Simson and J. Kelch (eds), Neue Beiträge zur Rembrandt-Forschung, Berlin 1973, pp. 176-88
1985

G. Schwartz, Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintings, Harmondsworth 1985
1985

D.R. Smith, 'Towards a Protestant Aesthetics: Rembrandt's 1655 Sacrifice of Isaac', Art History, VIII/3, 1985, pp. 290-302
1988

D. Bomford et al., Rembrandt (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 12 October 1988 - 17 January 1989), London 1988
1989

J. Mills and R. White, 'Paint Media Analyses', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIII, 1989, pp. 69-71
1990

H.P. Chapman, Rembrandt's Self-Portraits: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Identity, Princeton 1990
1991

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
1993

C. Tümpel, Rembrandt: All Paintings in Colour, Antwerp 1993
1994

M. Jaffé, 'Abraham's Sacrifice: A Rembrandt of the 1660's', Artibus et historiae, XV/30, 1994, pp. 193-210
1994

S. Perlove, 'Awaiting the Messiah: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Late Work of Rembrandt', Bulletin of the University of Michigan Museums of Art and Archaeology, XI, 1994, pp. 85-113
1995

A.K. Wheelock, Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century, Washington 1995
1998

J.M. Nash, 'To Finde the Mides Construction in the Face', Studies in the History of Art, LV, 1998, pp. 58-65
1999

C. White (ed.), Rembrandt by Himself (exh. cat. The National Gallery, London, 9 June - September 1999; Mauritshuis, 25 September 1999 - 9 January 2000), London 1999
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

J. Lange, 'Der Hl. Paulus: Rembrandts Arbeitsmethode von der Skizze zum Gemälde', Weltkunst, LXXI/14, 2001, pp. 2216-8
2002

M. Zell, Reframing Rembrandt: Jews and the Christian Image in Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam, Los Angeles 2002
2005

A.K. Wheelock et al., Rembrandt's Apostles (exh. cat. Timken Museum of Art, 1 October 2005 - 15 January 2006), San Diego 2005
2006

D. Bomford et al., Rembrandt (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 12 October 1988 - 17 January 1989), London 2006

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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