Could it be Rembrandt's?

For the portrait, a value of $3,100 was set by the auction house because they thought they had a knockoff of a 17th century Rembrandt. Aware of what he was doing was the British buyer that agreed to pay 1,500 times more than that. An English auction house sold the Rembrandt Laughing, which experts authenticated to be a self portrait done by the Dutch master depicted with his head tilted back in easygoing laughter, for a bargain price of four and a half million.

A piece like this one could have easily raked in $30 to $40 million according to a collector who specializes in Dutch and Flemish masters and for him the price given at the auction was rather disappointing. After being asked to change the value of the painting the art expert from Sotheby's declined to do so. When it comes to the works of Rembrandt they only come on the market every couple of years so this is such a rare opportunity.

Around 1628 was when Rembrandt made this self portrait while he was in his early 20s in his hometown of Leiden. As he was earning his reputation as an artist he made use of a mirror and his face in order for him to be able to capture expressions of all sorts. Fantastic is the presence it has. In their most natural form was the light as well as the laughter.

One English family held on to the painting for over 100 years. A number of people thought that it was one of Rembrandt's students or his imitator. When it comes to the low evaluation given by the auction house, to blame are poor photographs that may have shown little of the painting's luminosity or depth. From a 23 page analysis came the explanation showing how Rembrandt could have been the only one to create the little work considering everything from the brush strokes to the contour, monogram, and materials.

Suspecting that the painting was a genuine Rembrandt from the monogram RHL, the winner of the auction may have been familiar with the rare style the artist used lasting for about a year. When it comes to the monogram, it stood for Rembrandt Harmenszoon of Leiden. HL was the signature the auction house recorded in its assessment. Matching the directionality used by Rembrandt inn his other monograms are these initials and because they are also painted onto the background they become even more compelling proof.

The experts were confused because of the shape of the body of the laughing Rembrandt. The clothing a woolly blanket, metal armor and glossy shirt appear amorphous, lying in lumpy folds with little description of the anatomy below. However he used a distinct contour here and used it later on in his other works. If you look at this contour, it has a certain autonomy, said the expert adding that it may have been one of the first times Rembrandt tested out this way of painting the body.

Matching in size and type to other Rembrandt paintings is the thin copper plate on which the piece is painted. Compared to the other Rembrandt works, xrays showed that this one had a second painting underneath which is a common characteristic among these works. It was before 1800 and the painting's whereabouts remained unknown and during this time a Flemish engraver made a mistake and attributed the original to the Dutch painter Frans Hals when he made a reproductive print not realizing how the face in the picture was that of Rembrandt's. With silence afterwards the painting's location again became unknown.

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