DOI article:
Kozieł, Andrzej: Rembrandt van Rijn and Michael Willmann, or a story of dispelling a certain myth
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14573#0174
I 60 ANDRZEJ KOZIEŁ
5. Josef Gregory after Michael Willmann, The Scène with Maie andFemale Figures, 1794, etching, 192 x 309 mm, Prague,
Nârodrri galerie. Photo after A. Kozieł, Rysunki Michaela Willmanna (1630-1706), Wrocław 2000, fig. 228
adding two figures to frame the scène. Willmann's drawing practices were crowned by the most créative ex-
ercises, in which the young artist practised an entirely new figurai composition of a scenę by an appropriate
combination of separated fragments of one or two prints. For instance, copying the adéquate parts of the
scenę firom Marcantonio Raimondi's copper-plate engraving Martyrdom ofSt. Lawrence after Baccio Bandi-
nelli35, Willmann made two drawings depicting Scènes with Maie Figures (figs. 6, 7), where we can see
a balanced composition with an accentuated centre and the figures facing the centre on both sides of the
group. Whereas the completed, balanced and rhythmical arrangement of The Massacre of the Innocents
(fig. 8) was made up by combining single figures and groups copied after two prints of the same subject:
Marco Dente's after Baccio Bandinelli and Philips Galle's after Frans Floris36.
Thus with the aid of the collection of some graphie "prototypes" purchased in Amsterdam Willmann in
his individual practice tried to follow the composition teaching methods used in the best workshops of that
time, including also Rembrandt's "academy"37. The compositional studies of historical scènes performed by
Willmann "day and night", occasionally dealing with the same subject a few times (The Massacre of the
35 The IllustratedBartsch, vol. 26..., no. 104-1.
36 The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 26..., no. 21 ; The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 56: Netherlandish Artists. Philips Galle, ed. A. D o 1 -
ders, New York 1987, no. 29.
37 For teaching methods in Rembrandt's workshop, see Bij Rembrandt in de Leer / Rembrandt as Teacher. Exhibition cata-
logue, Muséum het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam, 26 X 1984-6 1 1985, ed. P. S с h a t b о r n, Amsterdam 1984; W. W. Robinson,
Rembrandt 's Sketches of Historical Subjects, [in:] Drawing defined, préface and commentary by К. O b e r h u b e r, ed. W. Strauss,
T. F e 1 к e r, New York 1987, pp. 241-256; S. A 1 p e r s, Rembrandt als Unternehmer. Sein Atelier und der Markt, translated from
English by H.U. D a v i 11, Koln 1989, pp. 80-197; P. S с h a t b o r n, Aspekte der Zeichenkunst Rembrandts, [in:] Rembrandt. Der
Meister und seine Werkstatt. Zeichnungen und Radierungen. Exhibition catalogue, ed. H. В e v e r s, P. S с h a t b о r n, B. We 1 z e l,
Munchcn -Paris- London 1991, pp. 10-21; J. Bruyn, Rembrandts Werkstatt: Organisation & Produkt ion, [in:] Rembrandt. Der
Meister und seine Werkstatt: Gemâlde. Exhibition catalogue, Berlin, Gemaldegalerie SMPK im Alten Muséum, 12 IX - 10 Xl 1991,
Berlin 1991. pp. 68 89; C. Brusati, Artifice and Illusion. The Art and Writing of Samuel van Hoogstraten, Chicago London
1995, pp. 24 45, and M. F r a n к с n, Lernen durch Nachahmung: Ober das Kopieren von Gemàlden in Rembrandts Werkstatt, \ in: |
Rembrandt. Genie auf der Suche. Exhibition catalogue, Berlin, Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 4 VIII 5 XI 2006,
Koln 2006, pp. 145 163.
5. Josef Gregory after Michael Willmann, The Scène with Maie andFemale Figures, 1794, etching, 192 x 309 mm, Prague,
Nârodrri galerie. Photo after A. Kozieł, Rysunki Michaela Willmanna (1630-1706), Wrocław 2000, fig. 228
adding two figures to frame the scène. Willmann's drawing practices were crowned by the most créative ex-
ercises, in which the young artist practised an entirely new figurai composition of a scenę by an appropriate
combination of separated fragments of one or two prints. For instance, copying the adéquate parts of the
scenę firom Marcantonio Raimondi's copper-plate engraving Martyrdom ofSt. Lawrence after Baccio Bandi-
nelli35, Willmann made two drawings depicting Scènes with Maie Figures (figs. 6, 7), where we can see
a balanced composition with an accentuated centre and the figures facing the centre on both sides of the
group. Whereas the completed, balanced and rhythmical arrangement of The Massacre of the Innocents
(fig. 8) was made up by combining single figures and groups copied after two prints of the same subject:
Marco Dente's after Baccio Bandinelli and Philips Galle's after Frans Floris36.
Thus with the aid of the collection of some graphie "prototypes" purchased in Amsterdam Willmann in
his individual practice tried to follow the composition teaching methods used in the best workshops of that
time, including also Rembrandt's "academy"37. The compositional studies of historical scènes performed by
Willmann "day and night", occasionally dealing with the same subject a few times (The Massacre of the
35 The IllustratedBartsch, vol. 26..., no. 104-1.
36 The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 26..., no. 21 ; The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 56: Netherlandish Artists. Philips Galle, ed. A. D o 1 -
ders, New York 1987, no. 29.
37 For teaching methods in Rembrandt's workshop, see Bij Rembrandt in de Leer / Rembrandt as Teacher. Exhibition cata-
logue, Muséum het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam, 26 X 1984-6 1 1985, ed. P. S с h a t b о r n, Amsterdam 1984; W. W. Robinson,
Rembrandt 's Sketches of Historical Subjects, [in:] Drawing defined, préface and commentary by К. O b e r h u b e r, ed. W. Strauss,
T. F e 1 к e r, New York 1987, pp. 241-256; S. A 1 p e r s, Rembrandt als Unternehmer. Sein Atelier und der Markt, translated from
English by H.U. D a v i 11, Koln 1989, pp. 80-197; P. S с h a t b o r n, Aspekte der Zeichenkunst Rembrandts, [in:] Rembrandt. Der
Meister und seine Werkstatt. Zeichnungen und Radierungen. Exhibition catalogue, ed. H. В e v e r s, P. S с h a t b о r n, B. We 1 z e l,
Munchcn -Paris- London 1991, pp. 10-21; J. Bruyn, Rembrandts Werkstatt: Organisation & Produkt ion, [in:] Rembrandt. Der
Meister und seine Werkstatt: Gemâlde. Exhibition catalogue, Berlin, Gemaldegalerie SMPK im Alten Muséum, 12 IX - 10 Xl 1991,
Berlin 1991. pp. 68 89; C. Brusati, Artifice and Illusion. The Art and Writing of Samuel van Hoogstraten, Chicago London
1995, pp. 24 45, and M. F r a n к с n, Lernen durch Nachahmung: Ober das Kopieren von Gemàlden in Rembrandts Werkstatt, \ in: |
Rembrandt. Genie auf der Suche. Exhibition catalogue, Berlin, Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 4 VIII 5 XI 2006,
Koln 2006, pp. 145 163.