Man in Oriental Costume

Catalogue number: Bredius 169.

Rembrandt painted this large canvas when he was twenty-six years old and wished to impress the potential patrons in Amsterdam. Representing historical figures on a grand scale, following the example of the highly acclaimed artists as Rubens and Van Dyck, was a great challenge for the young painter. For the present painting Rembrandt used a Dutch model, who can be found in other paintings and drawings by contemporary artists. The subject is an Oriental character - Turkish or Persian - rather than a historical personage.

The painting, which was entitled in the nineteenth century as "The Noble Slav," is one of the earliest examples of Rembrandt's painterly approach on a large scale.