coll. - Delphi Complete Works of Rembrandt van Rijn

(1606-1669)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2014

Version 1

Masters of Art Series

Rembrandt van Rijn

By Delphi Classics, 2014

Masters of Art - Rembrandt van Rijn

First published in the United Kingdom in 2014 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2014.

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Leiden, The Netherlands the site of Rembrandts birthplace

The plaque commemorating the artists birthplace

Leiden in the early 1600s

The Latin School in Leiden attended by Rembrandt

THE HIGHLIGHTS

In this section, a sample of some of Rembrandts most celebrated works are provided, with concise introductions, special detail reproductions and additional biographical images.

Housed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, this 1626 canvas concerns the Apocryphal Book of Tobit, in which Tobit, the rich, God-fearing Jew is depicted with his wife Anna. According to the story, Tobit was so strict in his observance of the Mosaic law, he had lost all his money and been blinded by an accident. To keep them both from starving, Anna had taken in work sewing and washing. However, when Tobit heard on one occasion the bleating of a kid, which Anna had been given to supplement her earnings, he falsely accused her of its theft. In the canvas, Rembrandt depicts the moment when she upbraids him for his self-righteousness and their sorry plight. Holding the detected kid, Anna towers dominantly above Tobit, who submissively grips his hands in apology.

Begun shortly after he had set up as an independent artist in Leiden in 1625, the painting is a master class in realist depiction, clearly exemplifying what would become one of the artists lifelong interests: the portrayal of old people. He faithfully depicts the lines and wrinkles on the couples faces and skin with distinct clarity, conveying their advanced age by the awkward poses of the subjects bodies. The canvas is notable for its ultra smooth brushstrokes, which separately are hardly visible, boasting a palette of colours that are warm and bright, with even lighting. The image is littered with still-life details, which are common conventions in the works of Dutch masters, though it is unlikely Rembrandt intended his props to have any symbolic meaning. Instead, each depicted object adds to the high degree of authenticity created by the image, depicting the interior as realistically as possible.

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

This second plate, now housed in Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, illustrates another of Rembrandts fascinations to dominate his art: the self-portrait. The artist completed over seventy-five self-portraits in oil and it has been estimated that 10% of his entire artistic output was dedicated to the depiction of his own facial features. This offers a unique opportunity of surveying a countenance gradually changing over the course of forty years. Rembrandts self-portraits have left posterity a visual autobiography of an artist that is simply without parallel in the history of Western art.

It is believed he had started making drawings and etchings of himself in 1628 and this habit would not stop until his death in 1669. Rembrandt often used his self-portraits for practice in order to discover for himself the range of expressions the human face is capable. As models could be expensive and impatient subjects, painting himself was a much more financial and feasible option for a young and aspiring artist to use. From the period of his first studio in Leiden , Rembrandt felt he needed a better understanding of the scope of human emotions, which he could then use to depict in his subject pictures. Also, there was a large demand for head and shoulders portraits at the time, marked by a strong facial expression these works were known as tronie paintings. Rembrandt therefore decided to combine the self-portrait with the tronie genre to develop his own original style. In time, he realised that more normal and less pronounced and emotional portraits of himself were marketable.

The Liverpool Self-Portrait demonstrates the features of both genres. The hallmarks of a tronie are clearly shown by the conventional head and shoulders depiction of the artist, whilst the somewhat comical, wry look and twisted mouth of the artist reveal the study of expression that the self-portray affords the artist. Interestingly, not long after its completion, the canvas was purchased by Robert Ker, the Earl of Ancram, who then gave it to King Charles I. Therefore it is widely believed to be the first work by to leave The Netherlands and arrive in Britain.