Art Captions

Author notes

0016. Portrait of an Elderly Man.

CornTown

on Feb. 7, 2010

By Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606-1669)
Circa. 1667
Baroque art

Unlike other painters of the Baroque era, Rembrandt never sot to take his art too serious (The exception being his religious paintings). Instead, his portraits display people celebrating, relaxed, and carefree, looking as though they were living rather than posing for a portrait. In addition, Rembrandt did not try and idealize his patrons. People are made to look like people and not like Greek statues.