DOI article:
Talbierska, Jolanta: Twórczość graficzna Rembrandta van Rijn: nowe perspektywy badawcze dzieła graficznego
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14573#0133
TWÓRCZOŚĆ GRAFICZNA RKMBRANDTA VAN RUN
127
stając się obowiązującym standardem w tej dziedzinie. Czy w takim ujęciu powinna mieć zastosowanie przy
badaniu każdej ryciny, każdego rytownika, czy tylko wybitnych peintre-graveurs to już kwestia odrębna
i każdorazowo wymagająca indywidualnych rozstrzygnięć. Należy podkreślić, że wszystkie nowe metody
badawcze zastosowane w odniesieniu do œuvre graficznego Rembrandta w ciągu ostatnich trzydziestu lat
wpłynęły bezpośrednio na ustalenie bardzo wysokich standardów opracowania grafiki i rysunku w ogóle,
bez udziału których nie powinna powstać żadna poważna publikacja w tym zakresie. Nigdy dotąd nie było
tak szerokich możliwości analizy i poznania dzieł graficznych, wyboru metody. Jednak niezależnie od przy-
jętej koncepcji nie można pomijać lub marginalizować kwestii ogólniejszych, artystycznych, oceny estetycz-
nej dzieła, gdyż właśnie wartościowanie, którego badacze coraz bardziej unikają, należy do niezbywalnych
zadań historii sztuki.
GRAPHIC ŒUVRE OF REMBRANDT VAN RUN.
NEW RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES ON GRAPHIC WORK
Summary
The activity of Rembrandt as a printmaker spans generally the period from 1626 to 1661. His œuvre amounts roughly to 320
works, including self-portraits, portraits or ironies, nudes, sketches, studies, landscapes, illustrations of scènes from the Bibie and
genre scènes, usually autonomous to his paintings and drawings. By 1631 he created circa 80 works which make one-fourth of all
his prints, containing two-third of his self-portraits (19 of 31 known to us). The group of his early etchings from the Leiden period
are characterised by expression, dynamie and free line similar to drawing in pen and ink. In 1630-1631 on the initiative of Hendrick
van Uylenburgh Rembrandt began his coopération lasting to 1636 with an etcher Jan Gillisz. van Vliet. It was probably then that
Rembrandt took advantage of the expérience of an professional engraver such as van Vliet and developed his graphie technique; he
began to use state biting and create technically sophisticated works (his first nocturne The Angel Appearing io the Shepherds, B. 44).
Originally, his Amsterdam period was dominated by the scènes from the Bible, but he produced also portraits. In 1641 as well as
1645 there was a great number of landscapes; the second period of his interest in graphie landscapes were the years 1650-1653.
Most often, the prints by Rembrandt combined etching with a drypoint and sometimes burin, while a rather soft type of etching
ground allowed the lines to be smooth and soft. After 1650 there was a drastic change, however, and diagonally drawn lines became
rough, crude and dry. From then on a dominant technique was drypoint, used as rich enhancement of etching or on its own ( The
Three Crosses, В. 78 dated 1653 and Ecce Homo, B. 76 dated 1655), which was quite unusual at that time.
Rembrandfs graphie œuvre represented a peculiar synthesis of the previous achievements in this field of art, a créative ex-
periment, testimony to the innovative technical and stylistic quests. Although well-known and appreciated, his prints were always
overshadowed by his flagship paintings and drawings. Yet, the récent years have brought a significant development in the research
into the graphie œuvre of Rembrandt that perfectly reveals the scope and complexity of his method as well as a new required stand-
ard of examination of a work of art in generał. The last thirty years marked a period of intensive methodological development of art
history which has brought about many research perspectives. A vast majority of new studies into the Rembrandfs prints is contained
in a contextual concept by Norman Bryson or in broad définition by W.J.T Mitchell for whom the symptoms of the history of art
transformations were, among other things, the re-examination of traditional models of "creator" and "receler" which in conséquence
questioned the cuit of artist as an individual. The prime examples are: a book by Svetlana Alpers (Rembrandt 's Enterprise: The
Studio and the Market, 1988), according to the neo-Marxist theory that places Rembrandt in économie and social reality, and by
Stéphanie Dickey (Portraits in Prints, 2004) on etched portraits by van Rijn and their social, literary, religious, and économie con-
notations in a broad anthropological depiction.
The basis for research into a graphie works was provided by the method of "first" and "second" history of art of Hans Sedl-
mayr. In practice it means the well-known model: description, analysis, and interprétation, with each stage significantly modified
and broadened, while the last one is additionally enhanced by new research perspectives. Among other fine arts graphie art is dis-
tinguished by a multitude of originall prints and for this reason the examination of Rembrandt graphie œuvre is based on his prints
investigated in the most possible numbers of impressions preserved. First, they were subjected to extensive formai and stylistic
analysis, then to the reinterpretation in various perspectives: anthropological, neo-Marxist, neo-psychological and others. The fon-
damental éléments remained the same: identification of a technique used, dimension of a plate and composition, states classification.
Alsb the éditions were systematised - author's, posthumous, from the period and later ones. This was often omitted or treated as
a minor issue from the sphère of expertness and collecting rather than scientific method focused on artistic creativity. It should be
emphasised that all stages and descriptions are expanded due to the developed method and research apparatus, while ones of the
most important procédures became technical issues and the paper analyses related to the states of impressions and éditions w hose
culminating point was a three-volume book by Erik Hinterding (Rembrandt as an etcher. 2006). The jubilee year of Rembrandt
2006 or in fact a décade preceding it with its publications and jubilee exhibitions being the fruit of research of many years and
restoration-scientifie-exhibition enterprises has not put the end to the research into Rembrandfs graphie œuvre. The issue hère is not
only to continue various perspectives of research increasingly bold encompassing this area of his creativity, but first and foremost
to conclude the basie research, including a compilation of a new. complète descriptive catalogue of his prints.
Translated by Grażyna Waluga
127
stając się obowiązującym standardem w tej dziedzinie. Czy w takim ujęciu powinna mieć zastosowanie przy
badaniu każdej ryciny, każdego rytownika, czy tylko wybitnych peintre-graveurs to już kwestia odrębna
i każdorazowo wymagająca indywidualnych rozstrzygnięć. Należy podkreślić, że wszystkie nowe metody
badawcze zastosowane w odniesieniu do œuvre graficznego Rembrandta w ciągu ostatnich trzydziestu lat
wpłynęły bezpośrednio na ustalenie bardzo wysokich standardów opracowania grafiki i rysunku w ogóle,
bez udziału których nie powinna powstać żadna poważna publikacja w tym zakresie. Nigdy dotąd nie było
tak szerokich możliwości analizy i poznania dzieł graficznych, wyboru metody. Jednak niezależnie od przy-
jętej koncepcji nie można pomijać lub marginalizować kwestii ogólniejszych, artystycznych, oceny estetycz-
nej dzieła, gdyż właśnie wartościowanie, którego badacze coraz bardziej unikają, należy do niezbywalnych
zadań historii sztuki.
GRAPHIC ŒUVRE OF REMBRANDT VAN RUN.
NEW RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES ON GRAPHIC WORK
Summary
The activity of Rembrandt as a printmaker spans generally the period from 1626 to 1661. His œuvre amounts roughly to 320
works, including self-portraits, portraits or ironies, nudes, sketches, studies, landscapes, illustrations of scènes from the Bibie and
genre scènes, usually autonomous to his paintings and drawings. By 1631 he created circa 80 works which make one-fourth of all
his prints, containing two-third of his self-portraits (19 of 31 known to us). The group of his early etchings from the Leiden period
are characterised by expression, dynamie and free line similar to drawing in pen and ink. In 1630-1631 on the initiative of Hendrick
van Uylenburgh Rembrandt began his coopération lasting to 1636 with an etcher Jan Gillisz. van Vliet. It was probably then that
Rembrandt took advantage of the expérience of an professional engraver such as van Vliet and developed his graphie technique; he
began to use state biting and create technically sophisticated works (his first nocturne The Angel Appearing io the Shepherds, B. 44).
Originally, his Amsterdam period was dominated by the scènes from the Bible, but he produced also portraits. In 1641 as well as
1645 there was a great number of landscapes; the second period of his interest in graphie landscapes were the years 1650-1653.
Most often, the prints by Rembrandt combined etching with a drypoint and sometimes burin, while a rather soft type of etching
ground allowed the lines to be smooth and soft. After 1650 there was a drastic change, however, and diagonally drawn lines became
rough, crude and dry. From then on a dominant technique was drypoint, used as rich enhancement of etching or on its own ( The
Three Crosses, В. 78 dated 1653 and Ecce Homo, B. 76 dated 1655), which was quite unusual at that time.
Rembrandfs graphie œuvre represented a peculiar synthesis of the previous achievements in this field of art, a créative ex-
periment, testimony to the innovative technical and stylistic quests. Although well-known and appreciated, his prints were always
overshadowed by his flagship paintings and drawings. Yet, the récent years have brought a significant development in the research
into the graphie œuvre of Rembrandt that perfectly reveals the scope and complexity of his method as well as a new required stand-
ard of examination of a work of art in generał. The last thirty years marked a period of intensive methodological development of art
history which has brought about many research perspectives. A vast majority of new studies into the Rembrandfs prints is contained
in a contextual concept by Norman Bryson or in broad définition by W.J.T Mitchell for whom the symptoms of the history of art
transformations were, among other things, the re-examination of traditional models of "creator" and "receler" which in conséquence
questioned the cuit of artist as an individual. The prime examples are: a book by Svetlana Alpers (Rembrandt 's Enterprise: The
Studio and the Market, 1988), according to the neo-Marxist theory that places Rembrandt in économie and social reality, and by
Stéphanie Dickey (Portraits in Prints, 2004) on etched portraits by van Rijn and their social, literary, religious, and économie con-
notations in a broad anthropological depiction.
The basis for research into a graphie works was provided by the method of "first" and "second" history of art of Hans Sedl-
mayr. In practice it means the well-known model: description, analysis, and interprétation, with each stage significantly modified
and broadened, while the last one is additionally enhanced by new research perspectives. Among other fine arts graphie art is dis-
tinguished by a multitude of originall prints and for this reason the examination of Rembrandt graphie œuvre is based on his prints
investigated in the most possible numbers of impressions preserved. First, they were subjected to extensive formai and stylistic
analysis, then to the reinterpretation in various perspectives: anthropological, neo-Marxist, neo-psychological and others. The fon-
damental éléments remained the same: identification of a technique used, dimension of a plate and composition, states classification.
Alsb the éditions were systematised - author's, posthumous, from the period and later ones. This was often omitted or treated as
a minor issue from the sphère of expertness and collecting rather than scientific method focused on artistic creativity. It should be
emphasised that all stages and descriptions are expanded due to the developed method and research apparatus, while ones of the
most important procédures became technical issues and the paper analyses related to the states of impressions and éditions w hose
culminating point was a three-volume book by Erik Hinterding (Rembrandt as an etcher. 2006). The jubilee year of Rembrandt
2006 or in fact a décade preceding it with its publications and jubilee exhibitions being the fruit of research of many years and
restoration-scientifie-exhibition enterprises has not put the end to the research into Rembrandfs graphie œuvre. The issue hère is not
only to continue various perspectives of research increasingly bold encompassing this area of his creativity, but first and foremost
to conclude the basie research, including a compilation of a new. complète descriptive catalogue of his prints.
Translated by Grażyna Waluga