DISCOVERING A MASTER - AGAIN -
I wonder how many people would contest a Rembrandt painting? There are so many stories, anecdotes about Rembrandt that after a while, the common mortal like me can get a little lost. The exhibition « Rembrandt Intime » has been on since the 16th of September at the Jaquemart-André which is not my favorite place for a « blockbuster exhibition ». The rooms are really small and once there are a couple fo groups going through, you are crushed to pieces. I got there at a reasonable hour this morning, no queues. I couldn’t believe my eyes. What I came up against once inside was impossible. Push, push, so I waited…
The first of my conferences this year there had been an extremely interesting one on this exhibition. So many of the Rembrandt pictures are contested today that it’s nice to know that 99% of his etchings are his…and those I have always loved most. The first time I discovered them was with my Mother sometime in the 80’s. I couldn’t get over the simplicity and yet the empathy which seemed to exude from each one. I had felt the same emotion when discovering Da Vinca’s sketches. In the present exhibition there are 20 of Rembrandt - I mean signed by his hand. One picture that had come from the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg was insured for 80,000€. I doubt if the museum in question could multiply such an amount for other paintings coming from overseas.
You may not know, but Rembrandt born in 1606 was one of 10 children. He was also protestant although he came from a Catholic family or rather his father was. No, I am not going into the long family history - although it is fascinating. I think though what it so interesting about his work, is that in his atelier where he taught his students, they had to learn his style, his method, his color - everything about the way he painted. This is one of the reasons why even today many of his paintings are contested - Rembrandt? Or the Atelier?
One of his first paintings, which even today is very ambiguous. A scene out of history but no-one knows from where and with who…in fact even to this day, new interpretations are brought forward but no-one can be sure.
Titus was born from his first marriage with Saskia. He had already lost other children, but Saskia survived, for some years anyway. In this painting you feel at once, how close Rembrandt must have been to his son.
When Saskia died, he started a relationship with the much younger Hendrickje Stoffels, who had initially been his maid. 1654 they had a daughter, Cornelia, bringing Hendrickje a summons from the Reformed Church to answer the charge "that she had committed the acts of a whore with Rembrandt the painter". She admitted this and was banned from receiving communion. Rembrandt was not summoned to appear for the Church council because he was not a member of the Reformed Church. The two were considered legally wed under common law, but Rembrandt had not married Hendrickje. Had he remarried he would have lost access to a trust set up for Titus in Saskia's will. Henrickje also died before Rembrandt and his son too, a year after his step mother’s death.
Rembrandt was not a thrifty person, living well beyond his means and I imagine with his notoriety he must have lived well and been paid well. But he died penniless.
A resumé of his life? A very scanty one. He was best known for his portraits.
and his religious paintings which were a recurrent theme...
The color, the effects, the mystery that emerges from these is astonishing … yet I think I am still overwhelmed by his etchings - I know they are his and somehow they are even more alive than his portraits. For me anyway.
A painting I really love is this. I had always imagined that Rembrandt was much taller. It seems that this is not so...I'm sure you all know that he did more than 90 self portraits in his life...
The first of my conferences this year there had been an extremely interesting one on this exhibition. So many of the Rembrandt pictures are contested today that it’s nice to know that 99% of his etchings are his…and those I have always loved most. The first time I discovered them was with my Mother sometime in the 80’s. I couldn’t get over the simplicity and yet the empathy which seemed to exude from each one. I had felt the same emotion when discovering Da Vinca’s sketches. In the present exhibition there are 20 of Rembrandt - I mean signed by his hand. One picture that had come from the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg was insured for 80,000€. I doubt if the museum in question could multiply such an amount for other paintings coming from overseas.
You may not know, but Rembrandt born in 1606 was one of 10 children. He was also protestant although he came from a Catholic family or rather his father was. No, I am not going into the long family history - although it is fascinating. I think though what it so interesting about his work, is that in his atelier where he taught his students, they had to learn his style, his method, his color - everything about the way he painted. This is one of the reasons why even today many of his paintings are contested - Rembrandt? Or the Atelier?
One of his first paintings, which even today is very ambiguous. A scene out of history but no-one knows from where and with who…in fact even to this day, new interpretations are brought forward but no-one can be sure.
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| A moment in history - 1626 |
Titus was born from his first marriage with Saskia. He had already lost other children, but Saskia survived, for some years anyway. In this painting you feel at once, how close Rembrandt must have been to his son.
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| Titus reading - around 1656-58 |
When Saskia died, he started a relationship with the much younger Hendrickje Stoffels, who had initially been his maid. 1654 they had a daughter, Cornelia, bringing Hendrickje a summons from the Reformed Church to answer the charge "that she had committed the acts of a whore with Rembrandt the painter". She admitted this and was banned from receiving communion. Rembrandt was not summoned to appear for the Church council because he was not a member of the Reformed Church. The two were considered legally wed under common law, but Rembrandt had not married Hendrickje. Had he remarried he would have lost access to a trust set up for Titus in Saskia's will. Henrickje also died before Rembrandt and his son too, a year after his step mother’s death.
Rembrandt was not a thrifty person, living well beyond his means and I imagine with his notoriety he must have lived well and been paid well. But he died penniless.
A resumé of his life? A very scanty one. He was best known for his portraits.
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| Portrait of Dr Arnold Tholinx - 1656 |
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| Young girl at her window - 1651 |
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| Parable of a Rich Man - 1627 |
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| Portrait of Haesje Van Cleyburg - 1634 :(Man or woman?) |
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| Saskia "en flore" -1634 |
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| The escape to Egypt - 1627 |
and his religious paintings which were a recurrent theme...
The color, the effects, the mystery that emerges from these is astonishing … yet I think I am still overwhelmed by his etchings - I know they are his and somehow they are even more alive than his portraits. For me anyway.
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| ??? |
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| La Marchande de crêpes - around 1635 |
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| Rembrandt |
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| - 1630 Portrait of his father (?) |
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| Self portrait with gaunt eyes - 1630 |
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| A laughing Rembrandt |
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| Rembrandt with "bristled" hair - around 1631 |
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| L'adoration d'un des trois Rois Mages - around 1635 |
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| Self portrait - 1636 |
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| Self Portrait - 1633 |
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| Portrait of Rembrandt in an Oriental costumes - 1631-33 | . |
A painting I really love is this. I had always imagined that Rembrandt was much taller. It seems that this is not so...I'm sure you all know that he did more than 90 self portraits in his life...
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