Rembrandt van Rijn
Eyes shining and eyebrows raised, a man is baring his crooked teeth in a hearty laugh. This is not a portrait, but a character study or tronie of a laughing man. Rembrandt painted it while he was living in Leiden and still had a very smooth style. So it is remarkable that he painted this head with incredibly loose brushstrokes—the style for which he later became famous. In some places, Rembrandt scratched in the wet paint to reveal the base, a copper plate covered in gold leaf.
We present today's painting thanks to Mauritshuis in the Hague, which owns an amazing collection of Rembrandt's works. : )
P.S. Mauritshuis houses one of the most beautiful Vermeers in the world, the View Of Delft. Read about it here!