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

Man with a Magnifying Glass

c. 1662
Oil on canvas, 91 x 74 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Catalogue number: Bredius 326.

The man wears an imaginary version of early sixteenth-century dress, which is lent an Italian flavour by its rich colouring and voluminous sleeves. The object held by the man appears to be a "thread-counter," which was a lens used to examine samples of cloth.

The companion portrait, Woman with a Pink, is also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The identity of the couple has not yet been determined with certainty, although it is assumed that they are the municipal auctioneer Pieter Gerritsz Haringh (1609-1685) and his wife Lysbet Jansdr Delft (c. 1620-1679).