Sales

In 1655 Rembrandt van Rijn sat down to paint his own picture. Often had he done it before; often was he to do it again. Most profound artists are introverts, seekers of their own devious mysteries. In the mirror Rembrandt studied his greenish, fur-lined cloak, his quietly folded hands. But ever and again he returned to probe his own sad eyes, perhaps hypnotized himself as people do who gaze in mirrors. He saw a man who was not intoxicated exclusively with his own painting, but who loved the work of other men and, indeed, bought so much of it that he was fast approaching bankruptcy. A great deal of this embracing, sacrificial sympathy is visible in the self-portrait. A year after it was finished Rembrandt was financially ruined.

In 1740 the self-portrait was bought by the English Buccleuchs for $340.

Last week the Duke of Buccleuch sold it for $582,000.

The buyers, Messrs. Colnaghi of London, will shortly offer it at public auction in Manhattan.

The landscapes of Camille Pissarro, French impressionist, scarcely paid for their own paint. When he died in 1903, he left a studio cluttered with his own work and that of his friends (Mary Cassatt, Monet, Manet, Seurat, Cezanne). Until last week these were kept as mementos by the Pissarro family. Then they sold them at auction in Paris. The total return was about $134,000.

The Louvre, more and more attentive to Impressionism (TIME, Dec. 3), bought a Pissarro watercolor and a pencil portrait of Pissarro by Paul Cezanne.