REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn
(b. 1606, Leiden, d. 1669, Amsterdam)

Portrait of Ephraim Bueno

1647
Oil on panel, 19 x 15 cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Catalogue number: Bredius 252.

Ephraim Bueno (1599-1655) was a Jewish physician and scholar in Amsterdam. The present panel is a preparatory oil sketch for an etching dated 1647. Bueno was also etched, somewhat later, by Jan Lievens. Lievens's etching has the identifying inscription for which Rembrandt left space but did not fill in. It would seem that Bueno turned to Lievens for a substitute of Rembrandt's portrait.