A NEW work of art has taken pride of place in Kelvingrove Art Gallery.

The Rembrandt painting, of his first wife, Saskia, is on loan to Glasgow from the National Gallery in London.

It in turn has borrowed the Rembrandt work, A Man in Armour, which is normally on display in the West End gallery.

Saskia in Arcadian Costume, which was finished in 1635, a year after their marriage, was designed to highlight a new style of portrait painting. The young bride was pregnant at the time Rembrandt completed the work.

It will be on display at Kelvingrove until May 2015, alongside six Rembrandt etchings, two of which have not been on display in the museum before.

Glasgow Museums own three paintings and more than 80 etchings by the Dutch artist, who is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art.

A Man in Armour will be on display in London until January 2015 before going on loan to a museum in Amsterdam.