Art: Fine Young Man

The City Art Museum of St. Louis put a mighty fine and correspondingly expensive new acquisition on show. It was a Portrait of a Young Man by Rembrandt, bought from the collection of London’s late Otto Gutekunst for $130,000. The museum is tax-supported, but private citizens had pitched in $37,500 to help close its biggest deal.

On opening day, 3,000 people piled in for a look at the picture. Few disagreed with the experts’ contention that it was worth what it cost. A product of Rembrandt’s last, dirt-poor years, it glowed with a human warmth and depth that his earlier, slicker works lacked. The sitter’s pensive, bloodshot eyes pierced the murk in which Rembrandt had muffled him; his melancholy, tight little smile reminded some visitors of the Mono, Lisa. Like her, the Young Man seemed to be silently inviting the spectator to enter the timeless, painted world in which he stood.