Hand-painted in oil
About this Artwork
The state format, bought by a private man
The title names Frederick Rihel and puts him on horseback. No crown, no command and no office appears in it. That is what makes the entry useful: the mounted portrait, developed for rulers, was available to anyone who could pay for one, and here it serves a sitter the title identifies by name alone. The animal performs exactly what it performs for a king, which is elevation, mass and visible control, with none of the rank behind it.
What the record holds
The date of creation is 1663 and the location is the National Gallery in London. The dimensions are 248 x 282 cm, the scale a state portrait would use. Baroque and Tenebrism are the recorded style terms, Dutch the recorded nationality, and the measured colour family of the image is neutral.
A gap worth flagging
This record is filed under male portraiture and carries no Animal Art heading at all, although the title places the sitter on horseback. That is an inconsistency in the catalogue rather than a fact about the painting. This site does not repair tags quietly. It reads the title, reports what the title says, and leaves the missing heading visible.
Sources
4 references- Rembrandt — Wikipedia
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), known mononymously as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of We
- Rembrandt van Rijn — Getty ULAN
Dutch painter, printmaker, 1606-1669
- Frederick Rihel on Horseback — Wikidata
description: painting by Rembrandt; inception: 1663; dimensions: 294.5 × 241 cm; collection: National Gallery
- Rembrandt - Frederick Rihel on Horseback - WGA19157 — Wikimedia Commons
High-resolution image of the work, hosted on Wikimedia Commons.
