Great Masters

The Rembrandt Research Project has been sifting through over 1,000 works to determine which were really by the hand of the famed Dutch master or paintings produced by his pupils and followers.

The exhibition of some 100 self-portraits by Rembrandt due to run from June 9th until September 5th 1999 at the National Gallery in London will probably shed new light on his work. Out of 1,000 paintings believed to have painted by Rembrandt only 250 would be genuine, according to the five Dutch experts of the Rembrandt Research project group who have been studying his works during some 25 years.

Rembrandt, who became a legend in the history of painting, represented himself dozens of times from 1620 until his death in 1669.

In 1656, Rembrandt received the visit of four men dressed in blacks who invaded his house and hustled him while he tried to oppose them. The process-servers listed all his belongings, prints, paintings, furniture and works of art with the old artist following them with tears in his eyes.

"Artemis"
Museo del Prado, Madrid

But the four men did not listen to him and seized everything in his house leaving him a poor man. Rembrandt had however had a great start in Leyden, his native town, before moving to Amsterdam where he married Saskia and became a famous portrait painter.

The young artist went on to collect magnificent works of art and paintings as well as rare fabrics and jewels. He notably showed himself wearing a heavy gold chain in a portrait now in the Louvre Museum, wearing an armour (Berlin, Florence and the Hague museums) or a plumed hat (Museum of Dresden) and even an helmet (Museum of Kassel).

Rembrandt was the only artist who showed himself in so many self-portraits, as a young man and later as a tired man. His many self-portraits are thus like a film of his life or like mirrors of his situations.

The National Gallery will offer 100 different faces of Rembrandt, paintings, drawings and engravings, to its visitors who will have the opportunity of experiencing a rare moment.

"The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp"
The Hague, Mauritshuis

These self-portraits are the greatest elements enabling us to retrace Rembrandt's biography. In 1642, after eight years of a happy marriage, Saskia died leaving a eight months son named Titus in Rembrandt's care. Much affected by the disappearance of his wife, the artist tried to overcome his grief in his arms of the baby's nurse.

The latter became his mistress but went on to sue him before a court after he refused to marry her but in the meantime Rembrandt had found some happiness with a young servant named Hendrickje Stoffels.

His relationship with Hendrickje was mainly the cause of his disgrace and ensuing bankruptcy. At the same time Rembrandt faced harsh criticisms regarding his painting The Watch Patrol and then preferred to live as lonely man.

From then on he worked freely and produced some great masterpieces, including self-portraits and extraordinary paintings like the Jewish Fiancée and the Members of the Drapers' Association. His last self-portraits were those of a fat and aged man who seemed incredibly human casting a glance full of compassion at our world.

On seeing these self-portraits, Van Gogh once said that there were no words to express what Rembrandt had tried to say.

Now, the most urgent tasks for experts is to determine the exact number of genuine Rembrandt works. The Man with a gilt helmet, a painting regarded as one of his most famous, was rejected a few years ago.

Also withdrawn from the list of genuine were the Polish horseman, in the Frick Collection, The Man with a red bonnet in the Museum of Rotterdam, The rest during the flight into Egypt in the Mauritshuis Museum of the Hague, the portrait of Cornelia Pronck in the Louve Museum, the Good Samaritan in the Wallace Collection in London as well as the portrait of the artist's mother in the collection of the Queen of England.

It is true that there were many copies or forgeries of Rembrandt works, notwithstanding the fact that the artist had many pupils who adopted his style. During the 19th Century, many art historians easily mistook his works with those of his pupils and followers. Now with modern research techniques, the colour pigments he used have been analysed, his brush strokes have been scanned and his touch deciphered. All possible chemical or technical means, X-rays, ultra-violet, grazing surface light, pigment components and others have been used to track down forgeries and copies.

REMBRANDT, ONE OF THE GREATEST MASTERS IN THE HISTORY OF ART

REMBRANDT HARMENSZ VAN RIJN (1606-1669)
Nationality: Dutch
Activity: Painter and engraver
Price range: Between $ 200,000 and 15 million

Rembrandt was the fifth out of six children born to Harmen or Hermann Gerritsz van Rijn, a miller in Leiden and his wife Neltje, the daughter of a baker named Willems van Suydtbroeck.

Harmen Gerritsz possessed two houses near the western entrance of Leiden and was quite at ease financially. Showing great intelligence, the young Rembrandt received a rather classical education and first studied literature in 1620 in Leiden before manifesting his yearn to become an artist a year later.

He thus worked as an apprentice in the studio of Jacob Swanenburch, a painter linked to an old family from Leiden and also a relative of his family.

Rembrandt spent three years with Swanenburch and rapidly demonstrated his rare talent as a painter while working in the latter's studio. During the course of his apprenticeship he met Jan Lievens, who soon became his best friend and advised him to pursue his studies with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam.

Rembrandt became Lastman's pupil in 1624 but both men did not come to terms since he returned to Leiden after six months with the will to have nature as its sole master.

He then set up his studio in his family house and started to produce etchings, which quickly showed he had mastered light in his works. Around 1628, Rembrandt was already famous to such a point that Gerard Dou's father insisted that his son should study under his direction.

Rembrandt then settled in Amsterdam and immediately met success there after painting numerous portraits and producing some remarkable etchings. Between 1631 and 1632 he painted 40 paintings that are known today, including his famous “Anatomy Lesson” in which he painted among others the superb portrait of Dr Tulp, who was also his protector.

Shortly after, the Stadthouter became his patron after asking him in 1633 to paint two religious works paid 300 guilders each, “The Descent from the Cross” and “The Erection of the Cross”, which both are now in the Munich Museum.

Descent from the Cross (Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg)

His early work was devoted to showing the lines, light and shade, and colour of the people he saw about him. He was influenced by the work of Caravaggio and was fascinated by the work of many other Italian artists. When Rembrandt became established as a painter, he began to teach and continued teaching art throughout his life.

In 1631, when Rembrandt's work had become well known and his studio in Leiden was flourishing, he moved to Amsterdam. He became the leading portrait painter in Holland and received many commissions for portraits as well as for paintings of religious subjects. He lived the life of a wealthy, respected citizen and met the beautiful Saskia van Uylenburgh, whom he married in 1634.

Rembrandt and Saskia, etching and drypoint 1636

Saskia, who was to become the model for many of his paintings and drawings brought him a dowry of 40 000 guilders that enabled him to live quite comfortably during their marriage.

Rembrandt had known Saskia for a long time since he had painted her portrait four times between 1632 and 1633 as well as a portrait of her sister and his works from this period are characterized by strong lighting effects.

Saskia, 1633 (Rijkmuseum Amsterdam)

In addition to portraits, Rembrandt attained fame for his landscapes, while as an etcher he ranks among the foremost of all time. When he had no other model, he painted or sketched his own image. It is estimated that he painted between 50 and 60 self-portraits.

The stonebridge, circa 1638

Rembrandt loved his wife dearly and during the eight years of their marriage, the presence of her figure dominated most of his works. He used to offer the latter rich clothes and jewels and transformed her into a kind of princess to such an extent that the way in which she dressed prompted some rather blunt remarks from the Amsterdam authorities.

Earning much money, Rembrandt was however spending lavishly to satisfy his passion for art as he was ceaselessly collecting numerous paintings and works of art. One day, he was seen at an auction sale pushing the price of a simple engraving by Lucas van Leiden up to 80 guilders.

In 1635, the couple had a son named Rombertus who however died shortly after his birth. A daughter named Cornelia was born in 1638 but in turn did not survive. A second daughter was given birth in July 1640 but also died a month later while a second son, named Titus, was born in 1641.

Saskia was of fragile constitution and did not manage to recover from her last pregnancy. She fell ill and died at 30 a few months later leaving Titus in the care of his father who then represented the sad moments of his life in many drawings and engravings.

Titus, circa 1646 (Norton Simon Foundation)

Saskia's death much afflicted Rembrandt who soon started to face financial difficulties despite his incredible celebrity. Nevertheless, his longing for freedom and his way of living had already turned the bourgeois society of Amsterdam against him.

For example Rembrandt often refused to produce portraits when a sitter did not please him. It also happened that he would impose the wearing of strange costumes to people whom he had accepted to portray or place his sitters where he felt they should be depicted and no one could interfere with his choices.

When he achieved in 1642 his famous “Night watch” shortly after Saskia's death, Rembrandt was the object of a flurry of criticisms from his sitters who belonged to a company of guardsmen depicted in that work as he should normally have placed them according to their ranks on the canvas but he did not bother about such rule and only concentrated on light effects and other renderings.

The Night Watch (Rijksmuseum)

At the time he painted “The Night Watch”, Rembrandt had changed his style regarding the way he painted nature and depicted the Dutch countryside in a much sober and natural manner. He also produced some admirable drawings, notably a moving scene showing a widower trying to feed his newly-born child, in fact himself and Titus.

Before dying Saskia had written a will stipulating that her husband would keep her belongings and reap the advantages of her wealth providing he would not marry again. In such case, half of her wealth would go to Titus while Rembrandt would only benefit from the gains of her capital.

At that time Rembrandt befriended the young Jan Six, a poet and a scientist who assisted him during his long-standing feud with Saskia's family.

Jan Six (Six Collection, Amsterdam)

In 1645, Rembrandt, who was being requested to make an inventory of his properties and belongings, had engraved his famous “Stone bridge” and in 1647 a remarkable etching depicting Jan Six.

Hendrickje bathing in a river,1654 (National Gallery London)

Rembrandt had become accustomed to living comfortably. From the time he could afford to, he bought many paintings by other artists. By the mid-1650s he was living so far beyond his means that his house and his goods had to be auctioned to pay some of his debts. Rembrandt was already heavily indebted especially as Holland was facing an economic crisis resulting from continuous wars. In addition, he was now longer meeting success and was not really seeking to sell his works. An inventory of his belongings in fact revealed that he had 50 of his paintings in his house while he was still nurturing a mad and costly passion for antique works of art.

Around 1652 he sold a pearl necklace that had belonged to Saskia and resorted to obtaining many loans. On may 1656, a court decision appointed a tutor for Titus and a few weeks later Rembrandt was declared bankrupt and his belongings were later auctioned.

During these difficult times, Rembrandt lived as a kind of recluse in a house in the Bloemgracht area but nevertheless enjoyed the affection of Hendrickje Stoffels who was then striving to make the couple's ends meet in becoming an art dealer with the help of Titus.

In 1661 the Clothemakers' Guild asked Rembrandt to paint its representatives and the artist then produced a superb painting, now in the Amsterdam Museum.

The Syndicas of the Clothemakers' Guild (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

In 1662 or so, Hendrickje died leaving him alone and much distressed. At that time, his production was already scarce but his sorrow however led him to produce his best works.

His death certificate mentioned that he had two surviving children, presumably Hendrickje's daughter and her daughter-in-law, according to art historians.

During his career, Rembrandt exerted a strong influence over several artists, notably Jan Lievens, Van Vliet, Gerard Dou, Ferdinand Bol, Govaert Flinck, Backer van Vliet, de Poorter, Jan Victors, Van den Eeckhout, Philips de Koninck, Ovens, Paudiss, Verdvel, Heerschop, Drost, Carel Fabritius, Hoogstraten, N. Maes, Renesse, Dullaert, Willemans, Vylenborch and Art van Gelder among others.

He was surely the greatest Dutch 17th Century painter of portraits and religious scenes, probably the best when it came to instil feelings in his paintings, the most daring regarding the way sitters were represented, the most accomplished concerning his treatment of light and certainly unequalled as an engraver.

One must admit that if he had met the requirements of the Dutch bourgeois society he would on the one end have escaped financial difficulties. On the other end, he would probably not have produced the marvellous masterpieces that were painted during the last 25 years of his life.

He had at first been a rather classical artist though endowed with great talent as his first works between 1627 and 1635 tend to prove. Living like a prince until 1641, Rembrandt was also enjoying the admiration of many Dutch noblemen and collectors who regarded as the most fashionable painter of their time.

Rembrandt and Saskia in the scene of the prodigal son, circa 1635
(Gemäldegalerie, Alte Meister, Dresden)

Still, ignoring the flurry of criticisms that befell him he daringly delivered his personal message to the world in showing outwardly his determination to work and live as he wished.

Strangely enough his much poignant portraits painted between the early 1650s and his death usually depict a proud but tired man whose defying stare seems to tell the viewer that whatever his sufferings were he knew he would remain forever a true and legendary artist.

Rembrandt probably believed that the expression of his talent could not reach new heights if he had had to meet the conditional requirements of his contemporaries who were thus restricting the freedom of so many artists. He only wanted to live for and through his art, a heavy price that several masters had to pay, like Leonardo da Vinci before him, Caravaggio during his lifetime, and others, notably Chardin, Courbet, Monet, Van Gogh or Modigliani well after his death.

The fact that his passion for collecting works of art proved so costly to the point that he became bankrupt also suggests that Rembrandt probably loved more the company of art objects he amassed than that of people, except those who enabled him to share their knowledge and wisdom, notably poets, scientists and rabbis.

Dr Ephraïm Bueno, Jewish physician and writer, 1647 (Rijkmuseum Amsterdam)

Portrait of a young Jew (Kimbell Art Museum Fort Worth)

Turning his back to society, Rembrandt in fact faithfully stuck to his desire to remain human, at least in his paintings in which he reflected so many human facets and superbly exhaled the condition of man.

Rembrandt's main obsession was to embark on a lifelong introspection of his own image thus becoming the most sublime pageant of self-portraits ever done by a Western artist.

The artist tried to scrutinise himself from the very beginning of his career to his dying day in 1669 and such obsession is dramatically defined in a tiny panel painted around 1629 at 23, when he was already becoming famous.

Self-portrait, etching 1631

Rembrandt was certainly much inquisitive about human condition, as the earliest surviving self-portrait done around 1628 tends to suggest.

The artist, seen head and shoulders, is completely immersed in self-scrutiny, while turning his head to look at the viewer. His eyebrows slightly raised and his lips about to open, Rembrandt is above all meditating. No artist so young in years ever painted his own likeness in such an ascetic mood, without complacency or costume ornament. The light descends above his head, leaving the face almost hidden in protective shadow. The Rijksmuseum's tiny piece is probably the greatest portrait ever painted by an artist at the start of his career.

Rembrandt repeated the same pose a second time in 1629 but though he produced a masterly and expressive panel he somewhat lost the magic exhaled in his first self-portrait.

Magic was however back again in the superb portrait dated 1629, from the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston, in which the young artist chose to depict himself in mixed attire combining features derived from 16th-century fashion with Oriental fittings.

Showing himself with a stare of surprise gives a clue, it seems that Rembrandt wanted to explore human condition through his own person and his disguise was probably designed to point at man's vanity.

These self-portraits were not images of vanity, nor superficial exercises in expressiveness. In 1652, Rembrandt posed for himself, looking full front, or nearly so. Dressed in a brown quilted coat which could be that of a Middle Eastern muleteer, the painter's concern is clearly not the quality of attire. The feverish stare, the lips pressed hard, betray the intensity of self-probing, the anxiety of a man looking for reassurance regarding unanswered questions. Preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, this is one of Rembrandt's greatest works.

Self-portrait, 1652 (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna)

Through his final years, the painter's stare seemed to become more piercing, and more troubled. In a self-portrait from Vienna, cropped on all sides but still admirable, the knitted eyebrows, the sagging face convey a feeling close to distress.

In 1658, Rembrandt portrayed himself wearing an intriguing guise. His working apron is fastened with a Middle Eastern-style sash. Seen seated frontally in a chair, in quasi-regal manner, the painter holding a long brush has a forced smile and some inner anger mixed with anxiety can be read in his feverish eyes.

Almost for the first time, Rembrandt made a direct pictorial allusion to his deep religious feelings. In a picture dated 1661, the painter lent his features to Saint Paul, seen in 17th-century Protestant circles as the paramount teacher of Christian beliefs. But his sense of self-derision remained as vivid as ever. In another Louvre painting, the artist represented himself as a toothless old man with a stoop. Brush in hand, he grins broadly at the profile of an old woman. The allusion is to Zeuxis, the Ancient Greek painter who died laughing while portraying an old harridan.

Perhaps the most exemplary of all is a portrait Rembrandt painted in the year
of his death. Wearing a kind of 15th Century costume and looking sick, the artist nervously clasps his hands. He turns his head to give the viewer a weak smile of dignity. The interrogation here has given way to certainty. Light comes from above to touch the face and the hands as darkness gathers on the right hand side. Thus did the towering genius o European art bid farewell to his worldly envelope.

Self-portrait 1669 (National Gallery London)

It has been broadly agreed that the greatest artist of the Dutch school was Rembrandt. He was a master of light and shadow whose paintings, drawings, and etchings made him a giant in the history of art.

Gérard de Lairesse (Metropolitan Museum New York)

The number of works attributed to Rembrandt varies. He produced approximately 600 paintings, 300 etchings, and 1,400 drawings.

The Jewish bride, 1666 (Rijksmuseum)

Some of his best works are: St. Paul in Prison (1627); Supper at Emmaus (1630); The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632); Young Girl at an Open Half-Door (1645); The Mill (1650); Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer (1653); The Return of the Prodigal Son (after 1660); The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild (1662); and many portraits.

Adrian Darmon