Self Images: An Empirical Enquiry into Rembrandt’s Self-portraits and Portraits

Many have speculated that events of personal and financial loss in Rembrandts life caused depression and that this is revealed by examination of his self-portraits particularly those painted in old age. Some report detecting various physiological diseases associated with aging, including vision impairment, which may have affected his mood and work. Aging and neurodegenerative disease which often accompanies it, are both associated with depression. Recent advances in imaging and computer technology make it possible to empirically examine changes in artistic style which can contribute to understanding artists physical and mental health. In the current study changes in contrast, colour and fractal dimension were measured in the entire corpus of Rembrandts painted self-portraits and portraits to determine whether changes in style indicate depression or disease. Productivity was also examined as an indirect indicator. Given the high salience attributed to self-images, it also examined whether differences in style could be detected between self-portraits and portraits of related and unrelated others. The results indicate that it is unlikely that Rembrandt suffered from unipolar or bipolar depression, age-related cognitive decline, or neurodegenerative disease. The data are consistent with someone experiencing episodes of low mood consistent with normal grieving and adversity followed by resilient recovery. There is evidence of a gradient in saliency and complexity between self-portraits and related and unrelated portraits, of a less formal style in portraits of related others and of a late style identified by leading art historians consistent with macular degeneration. The results are also consistent with an association of aesthetic preference with mid-level fractal values tending towards the Golden Mean long associated with beauty in nature and in art.