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DOI Artikel:Murawska-Muthesius, Katarzyna: Milton's Tower: from the symbol of divine guidance to that of secret wisdom
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18898#0057
4. Rembrandt(?), A Scholar Writing, priv. coli. USA (after A. Bredius, Rembrandt..., op. cif.)
the studio in Rembrandt's painting. This intuition is enhanced by the fact that in botb cases the
sources of light rcmain hidden from sigbt, which allows an arbitrary interpretation of its naturę
and prompts one to see it as a symbol. Also, both in Rcmbrandt and Milton, it accompanies a her-
mit. One can as sumę that Milton's panoramie imagination, which in Paradise Lost enabled bim to
see the earth and the garden of Eden from the viewpoint of Satan soaring in the air, also enabled
him to view the lit candle in the scholar's studio from a distance, from the outside. Thus Milton
has gone beyond the schemes of the two iconographic traditions by adding the meaning of the mo-
tif of the scholar in his studio to the image of the lightouse. The character with which Milton end-
owed U Penseroso does not allow to identify Rcmbrandt's scholar with Milton's astrolger
and, as a result, refutes any suspiscion that the poet moved the scholar's studio to the top of
painting is discussed by R. Daniells wlio analyscs another painting ascribed to Rcmbrandt Scholar in a Lofly Room (London,
National Gallery, Bredius, no 427; rccently the attribution of this picture to Rembrandt is considered donbtful) showing
a studio illuminatcd with a strong light entering through the window, where Rembrandt, „...combines a theme of medi-
tative seriousness with the accentuating power of well-handled light and shade. Like Milton, he helped to create a Pro-
testant iconograpliy — a set of representations of sacred and morał subjects so compelling that the one always brings
to mind the other". (R. Daniells, „Milton and Renaissance Art", in: John Milton: Inlroductions..., op. cit., p. 203). The
motif of the light of an invisible candle or light entering through a window into a schoIar's studio recurs in many other
compositions by Rembrandt, e.g.: Scholar in a Convent Interior (St. Athanasius?)'*, 1631 (Stoekholm, Nationalmuseet,
Bredius, No 430), Scholar in an Interior with a Spiral Staircase, 1633 (Paris, Louvre; Bredius, No 431), where the spiral
of the winding stairs may havc a symbolic meaning; The Apostle Paul (Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum;
Bredius, No 602) with strong light emanating from the pages of the hook placed on St. Paul*s łap; print Dr. Faustus*
1650—52, {cf. L. Miinz, A Critical Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings, London, 1952, p. 117, No 275).
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the studio in Rembrandt's painting. This intuition is enhanced by the fact that in botb cases the
sources of light rcmain hidden from sigbt, which allows an arbitrary interpretation of its naturę
and prompts one to see it as a symbol. Also, both in Rcmbrandt and Milton, it accompanies a her-
mit. One can as sumę that Milton's panoramie imagination, which in Paradise Lost enabled bim to
see the earth and the garden of Eden from the viewpoint of Satan soaring in the air, also enabled
him to view the lit candle in the scholar's studio from a distance, from the outside. Thus Milton
has gone beyond the schemes of the two iconographic traditions by adding the meaning of the mo-
tif of the scholar in his studio to the image of the lightouse. The character with which Milton end-
owed U Penseroso does not allow to identify Rcmbrandt's scholar with Milton's astrolger
and, as a result, refutes any suspiscion that the poet moved the scholar's studio to the top of
painting is discussed by R. Daniells wlio analyscs another painting ascribed to Rcmbrandt Scholar in a Lofly Room (London,
National Gallery, Bredius, no 427; rccently the attribution of this picture to Rembrandt is considered donbtful) showing
a studio illuminatcd with a strong light entering through the window, where Rembrandt, „...combines a theme of medi-
tative seriousness with the accentuating power of well-handled light and shade. Like Milton, he helped to create a Pro-
testant iconograpliy — a set of representations of sacred and morał subjects so compelling that the one always brings
to mind the other". (R. Daniells, „Milton and Renaissance Art", in: John Milton: Inlroductions..., op. cit., p. 203). The
motif of the light of an invisible candle or light entering through a window into a schoIar's studio recurs in many other
compositions by Rembrandt, e.g.: Scholar in a Convent Interior (St. Athanasius?)'*, 1631 (Stoekholm, Nationalmuseet,
Bredius, No 430), Scholar in an Interior with a Spiral Staircase, 1633 (Paris, Louvre; Bredius, No 431), where the spiral
of the winding stairs may havc a symbolic meaning; The Apostle Paul (Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum;
Bredius, No 602) with strong light emanating from the pages of the hook placed on St. Paul*s łap; print Dr. Faustus*
1650—52, {cf. L. Miinz, A Critical Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings, London, 1952, p. 117, No 275).
51