(b. 1606, Leiden, d. 1669, Amsterdam)

The Artist's Son Titus c. 1657 Oil on canvas, 69 x 57 cm Wallace Collection, London

Titus (1641-1668) was the last child born to Saskia and the only one to survive infancy. As with Hendrickje, there are no documented portraits of him, but about four or five portraits of the same boy are known, painted between 1655 and about 1662, and it would be unreasonable to doubt that they represent Titus. Rembrandt also made a number of drawings of him and may have used him as a model for religious pictures. Titus himself grew up to be an artist and several of his drawings have been identified. Titus could have enjoyed a comfortable life. After the settlement of Rembrandt's bankruptcy and his reaching the age of legal majority, the courts paid him nearly seven thousand guilders from Saskia's bequest. From 1660 he acted jointly with Hendrickje as his father's dealer but he died as a young man in 1668, the year before Rembrandt himself.

The present picture was painted at the time of Rembrandt's bankruptcy, when Titus and Hendrickje Stoffels were administering the sale of his pictures. The portrait has been slightly reduced on the right.

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Author: REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn Title: The Artist's Son Titus Time-line: 1601-1650 School: Dutch Form: painting