Portrait of an Old Man with a Beard is a painting of an old man looking out into the distance with an expressionless look on his face.
He is breaking the fourth wall by looking in the directions of the audience. The old man does not make direct eye contact with the audience, but is looking more in the direction of the lower right hand corner of the painting, as if he is lost in deep thought. This painting has more details concentrated on the features of his face, with strict defined strokes. The hair, body, and background on the other hand, is painted with a looser stroke. These looser strokes give those areas a gestural quality.
Rembrandt is known for completing a large number of self-portraits during his lifetime. What is interesting about this painting is that under the surface layer, there is residue of an unfinished self-portrait. We do not know exactly why the original portrait was covered or why the old man was painted in its place, but it seems that some of the paint used in the original portrait was also used in the completion of Portrait of an Old Man with a Beard. It could be said that this over laying picture is yet another Self-Portrait, not an exact representation of Rembrandt, but elements of himself.
by Ethan Newsome-Jackson