Portrait of a Polish Aristocrat

1637

Oil on panel

National Gallery, Washington

Researchers date the first mention of this work by Rembrandt to the auction held in Amsterdam in April 1707. The figure depicted in the painting has at various times been called "an envoy from Muscovy", John (Jan) III Sobieski, Stefan Bathory and Andrzej Rej, an aristocrat and confidant of King Wladyslaw of Poland who was sent on a special mission to England and the Netherlands in 1637.