Never before Rembrandt had an artist made so many self-portraits. He imagined himself with many different identities and outfitted himself with a large wardrobe of costumes he’d bought, many of them exotic or old-fashioned. This lecture considers the paintings, drawings, and etchings Rembrandt made of himself, and explores the artist’s motives in making them, as assumed or projected by interpreters during the intervening centuries.

In Los Angeles alone, there are no fewer than 14 paintings, a dozen drawings, and nearly 300 etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn. In this series of online lectures for the Hammer Museum, art historian, curator, and museum director John Walsh examines these works and Rembrandt’s career in detail, including recent research, surprise reappearances, and shifting opinions about the artist and his achievements.