An in-depth exploration of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Self-Portrait, Age 23 (1629) by Rembrandt.

This book will be an in-depth examination of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Rembrandt Self-Portrait, Age 23 (1629). It will highlight one of the most important paintings in the Museum’s collection during its moment at the centre of a major season exhibition. It will accompany the exhibition The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt (co-organised by The Jewish Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Art) at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (August 6 2026 –January 18, 2027) which includes the Self-Portrait, the only work by Rembrandt not stolen from the Museum in 1990.

Nathaniel Silver will explore Isabella Stewart Gardner’s taste for Rembrandt and the acquisition of this painting as a turning point in her collecting. He will also contribute an extended catalogue entry, placing it within Rembrandt’s practice of self-portraiture throughout his career.  Conservator Lucia Bay will address Rembrandt’s technique, focusing on select details. 

Exhibition Schedule

 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

6 August 2026–18 January 2027

Published by Paul Holberton Publishing/Distributed by Yale University Press