DOI issue:
Nr. 3-4
DOI article:Grochowska-Angelus, Anna; Novljaković, Katarzyna [Contr.]: Rembrandt's Landscape with the Good Samaritan: Technological structure analysis and the characteristics of painting technique
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49519#0347
ReMBRANDT'S LANDSCAPE WITH THE GOOD SAMARITAN
337
12. Detail with signature and retouching of
individual letters
effect was achieved by dabbing green of minimal gradation with a thin round brush, whereas the
lightened branches behind the Samaritan were brought out with a precise, soft modelling of bright
green with ochre. Behind the couple with the child there is a palm-like tree accented with virtually
opaque paint in a few curved strokes on the green underpainting. In this part the picture is almost
monochromic. Where the winding road turns toward the city, it was contrasted with the shade
through touches of light ochre and green. The outlines of the vegetation were painted in
a semi-opaque green with rapid brush movements.
The foreground on the left side of the composition is shaded to stand in contrast to the right
side. The scarp with the vegetation and the broken, withered trunk were painted in a semi-transpa-
rent black, thus forming a background for the thistles in the centre and in the foreground. The
blooming plants, with their protruding, thick texture emphasised by the white of the lights, softly
fade into the broken green and seem to emerge out of the painting. The scarp then turns into shaded
fields with distinguishable trees, water and a footbridge, a fisherman on the bank and buildings. In
this spot the form was marked by soft lines, translucent primer, as well as individual touches of
diverse colours; e.g. sky blue and green. Rembrandt achieved the effect of abrupt transition into the
bright part of the painting on the edge of the scarp by leaving a strip of Tuminous' primer.
The viewers' attention is focused on the bright valley with the outline of a city in the back-
ground. In this part we can see precise strokes by using a thin round brush - golden, pinkish and
greenish white in the area of fields, sheaves, fences, the road, the river with a double-arched
bridge, a waterhole and cattle. The whiteness of the cascade flowing into the water is the brightest
accent of the painting. Blue accents are noticeable in the dress of several people.34 All this was
painted thick with running paint flowing down the brush tip in soft, skillful movements. Individual
outlines are emphasised by red ochre and malachite glazing.
A horse-drawn calash painted with rapidly but sparsely applied strokes emerges from the shade
on the right. The horses are represented by single touches of white with the bottom layer showing
through. The outline of the city - oriental with Dutch windmills - was brightened up by whitened
green to varying degrees of intensity and painted wet-into-wet, with rare paint blended into the
prime coat. This part was carried out with fast, independent applications of the brush, so that in
effect the details are lost in a blurred effect.
There is a contour of dark rocks visible in the background dabbed on a semi-transparent umber
undercoat. Softly blended patches of broken green and blue with little gradation of light were
applied impulsively with a thin brush in wet paint.
Parts of the sky were painted on one layer. Dark patches of billowed clouds seem as if a semi-
dry paint was rubbed into the surface due to Rembrandt's use of a wide flat brush. We can see
34 Two figures are visible at the bend in the road; according to M. Rostworowski these are a chaplain and Levite, in the
tradition of iconographic representation characteristic of Biblical allegory. They were not recognized by the Rembrandt
Research Project (RRP); cf: Corpus, A.125, pp. 268-9.
337
12. Detail with signature and retouching of
individual letters
effect was achieved by dabbing green of minimal gradation with a thin round brush, whereas the
lightened branches behind the Samaritan were brought out with a precise, soft modelling of bright
green with ochre. Behind the couple with the child there is a palm-like tree accented with virtually
opaque paint in a few curved strokes on the green underpainting. In this part the picture is almost
monochromic. Where the winding road turns toward the city, it was contrasted with the shade
through touches of light ochre and green. The outlines of the vegetation were painted in
a semi-opaque green with rapid brush movements.
The foreground on the left side of the composition is shaded to stand in contrast to the right
side. The scarp with the vegetation and the broken, withered trunk were painted in a semi-transpa-
rent black, thus forming a background for the thistles in the centre and in the foreground. The
blooming plants, with their protruding, thick texture emphasised by the white of the lights, softly
fade into the broken green and seem to emerge out of the painting. The scarp then turns into shaded
fields with distinguishable trees, water and a footbridge, a fisherman on the bank and buildings. In
this spot the form was marked by soft lines, translucent primer, as well as individual touches of
diverse colours; e.g. sky blue and green. Rembrandt achieved the effect of abrupt transition into the
bright part of the painting on the edge of the scarp by leaving a strip of Tuminous' primer.
The viewers' attention is focused on the bright valley with the outline of a city in the back-
ground. In this part we can see precise strokes by using a thin round brush - golden, pinkish and
greenish white in the area of fields, sheaves, fences, the road, the river with a double-arched
bridge, a waterhole and cattle. The whiteness of the cascade flowing into the water is the brightest
accent of the painting. Blue accents are noticeable in the dress of several people.34 All this was
painted thick with running paint flowing down the brush tip in soft, skillful movements. Individual
outlines are emphasised by red ochre and malachite glazing.
A horse-drawn calash painted with rapidly but sparsely applied strokes emerges from the shade
on the right. The horses are represented by single touches of white with the bottom layer showing
through. The outline of the city - oriental with Dutch windmills - was brightened up by whitened
green to varying degrees of intensity and painted wet-into-wet, with rare paint blended into the
prime coat. This part was carried out with fast, independent applications of the brush, so that in
effect the details are lost in a blurred effect.
There is a contour of dark rocks visible in the background dabbed on a semi-transparent umber
undercoat. Softly blended patches of broken green and blue with little gradation of light were
applied impulsively with a thin brush in wet paint.
Parts of the sky were painted on one layer. Dark patches of billowed clouds seem as if a semi-
dry paint was rubbed into the surface due to Rembrandt's use of a wide flat brush. We can see
34 Two figures are visible at the bend in the road; according to M. Rostworowski these are a chaplain and Levite, in the
tradition of iconographic representation characteristic of Biblical allegory. They were not recognized by the Rembrandt
Research Project (RRP); cf: Corpus, A.125, pp. 268-9.