Portrait of a Blonde Youth

Catalogue number: Bredius 265.

The most striking characteristic of this portrait is the sitter's luxuriant blond hair. He also has an almost white moustache, beard and eyebrows, which, but for the fact that he has dark rather than pale pink eyes, might suggest that he was an albino.The sitter was recently identified as probably Pieter Six (1612-1680), the elder brother of Jan Six, on the basis of a comparison with a drawing supposed to be of Pieter Six in the Six family collection. The identification of the sitter as Pieter Six is further borne out by the sitter's apparent age. The portrait can be dated on stylistic grounds to about 1650, when Six was just under forty.

The Sixes were rich Amsterdam merchants, and Rembrandt had close contacts with Jan from 1645 to 1654, so he must have known the family well. Both Pieter and Jan were art collectors.