Painted for the Art Experience competition in Venice, Florida in 2013.

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The challenge was to select and copy one of Rembrandt's many self-portraits exactly as he painted it, except it must be your own face in the portrait instead of Rembrandt's, with the surrounding kept as in the original.

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The portrait I chose was No 78, dated 1655. As Rembrandt painted nearly 100 self-portraits, it took me awhile to decide which one to use for the project. I purchased a book on Rembrandt's self-portraits and spent days leafing through them, but I kept coming back to portrait No 78, shown below.

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Several of the Rembrandt self-portraits from the early years of his life were given something of an amusing, even comical expression. With that in mind, I asked Lisa to take some photos of me as I contorted my face into various comedy poses, and eventually we captured an image that would combine with the Rembrandt original. 

 

However, the completed painting was very difficult to photograph. Because it is so dark, it is virtually impossible to illuminate it without causing reflective glare, giving the impression it was painted with some kind of 'fog' effect. Apologies, it's just the glare on the surface, and one of the great bugbears of photographing painted art.