Titus (1641-68) was the only one of Rembrandt’s four children with his first wife, Saskia, to survive infancy. He was 16 when this portrait was painted yet, rather than creating an image of a carefree teenager, Rembrandt has shown him as a serious young man.

Titus stares directly at us, while the background and lighting further concentrate our attention upon the young man’s compelling gaze. It is dark and there is light falling across the right-hand-side of his face. He is wearing a red hat and a rough, brown cloak with a gold chain, which seem to be historical robes. Is he meant to represent an historical figure, is he dressed up to play a part or is he meant to be just Titus, the artist's son? The composition is simple: a quiet drama is created by the light falling on the young man's face which almost seems to be coming from inside him rather than from an external source.

The costume in which Titus has been portrayed hints at a narrative beyond the painting which tempts us to invest the portrait with a significance deeper than that of a mere likeness of a single individual.

Rembrandt had a very particular way of creating his images: he painted from dark to light, adding the highlights last. This heavy use of impasto (the areas of thickly-applied paint) adds texture to the paint surface, giving a feeling of immediacy and spontaneity which belies this careful execution. The restricted palette, dominated by brown and dark red, and the sharp contrasts of light and shade (‘chiaroscuro’), add to the sense of intensity and drama.