DOI Artikel:
Kozieł, Andrzej: Rembrandt van Rijn and Michael Willmann, or a story of dispelling a certain myth
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14573#0181
REMBRANDT VAN RUN AND MICIIAKL WILLMANN
167
13. Michael Willmann, Landscape with St. John the Baptist, 1656, oil, canvas, 88 x 118 cm,
Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe. Photo Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw
ideał of a painting "method" - unrestrained, rough use of paint on the surface of a picture, defined as ruwe
manier in the seventeenth-century Holland54.
Willmann tried to learn the painting lesson of a difficult sketchy manner, what Kareł van Mander him-
self discouraged the beginning artists warning them: "Straight forward painting [...] is not designed for
everyone"55. Deciding on the manner Willmann searching for a model worth following referred to the mas-
terworks of Rembrandt, who was commonly praised then and was recognised as the leading Dutch repré-
sentative of ruwe manier. Needless to say, for his way of painting Rembrandt was appreciated even by his
critics, to name just Joachim von Sandrart, who pointed him out as an ideał, admitting that "[he] could break
colours in an excellent and entirely artistic way and with their help he was able to recreate the true simplic-
ity of nature and life harmony, opening the eyes of those traditionally being more dye-makers than painters;
for they apply paints in a harsh, rough and tough manner, one by one, what effects in their pictures having
nothing in common with nature, rather reminding paint-box on market stalls or canvas brought from a dye-
house"56.
54 The division between "smooth" {nette) and "rough" (ruwe) painting manner was one of the fundamental différences between
the ways of elaborating the surface of a painting, commonly used both in North-European painting theory and painting praxis of
that time. See J.A. E m m e n s, Natuur, onderwijzing en oefening Bij een drieluik van Gerrit Don, [in:] Album Discipulorum J.G.
van Gelder, Utrecht 1963, pp. 125-128; E m m e n s, Rembrandt en de regels..., pp. 30-36; A.K. W h e e 1 о с к Jr., Reppraisal of
Gerard Dou's Réputation, [in:] William A. Clark Collection. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington 1978, pp. 60-67; B.P.J.
Broos, (review) S. S 1 i v e, Frans Hais, vol. 1-3, London 1970-1974, "Simiolus", 10 (1978-1979), pp. 121-123; O. N au mann,
Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635-1681), Davaco 1981, pp. 40^1 ; A 1 p e r s, op. cit., pp. 39-40; E. van de Wetering, Rem-
brandts Malweise: Werk im Dienst der Illusion, [in:] Rembrandt. Der Meister und seine Werkstatt: Gemàlde..., pp. 13-39.
55 "Ten ersten schier sonder teyckenen schilderen, wil hem met yeder niet schicken..." - C. van Mander, Den grondt der
edel vry schilderkonst, uitgegeven en van vertaling en commentar H. Miedema, Utrecht 1973, vol. 1: text, part 1, fol 47a.
56 "...er die Farben sehr vernunftig und kunstlich von ihrer ignen Art zu brechen / und nachmalen darmit auf der Tafel / der
Natur warhafte und lebhafte Einfàltigkeit / mit guter Harmonie des Lebens / auszubilden gewust / wormit er dann allen denen die
Augen erôfnet / welche / dem gemeinen Brauch nach / mehr Farber ais Mahler sind / indem sie die Hârtigkeit und rauhe Art der
Farben ganz frech und hart neben einander legen / daB sie mit der Natur ganz keine Gemeinschaft haben / sondern nur denen in den
Kram-Lâden gefullten Schachtlen / oder aus der Farberey gebrachten Tiichern ahnlich und gleich sehen" - Sand r a rt, Teutsche
167
13. Michael Willmann, Landscape with St. John the Baptist, 1656, oil, canvas, 88 x 118 cm,
Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe. Photo Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw
ideał of a painting "method" - unrestrained, rough use of paint on the surface of a picture, defined as ruwe
manier in the seventeenth-century Holland54.
Willmann tried to learn the painting lesson of a difficult sketchy manner, what Kareł van Mander him-
self discouraged the beginning artists warning them: "Straight forward painting [...] is not designed for
everyone"55. Deciding on the manner Willmann searching for a model worth following referred to the mas-
terworks of Rembrandt, who was commonly praised then and was recognised as the leading Dutch repré-
sentative of ruwe manier. Needless to say, for his way of painting Rembrandt was appreciated even by his
critics, to name just Joachim von Sandrart, who pointed him out as an ideał, admitting that "[he] could break
colours in an excellent and entirely artistic way and with their help he was able to recreate the true simplic-
ity of nature and life harmony, opening the eyes of those traditionally being more dye-makers than painters;
for they apply paints in a harsh, rough and tough manner, one by one, what effects in their pictures having
nothing in common with nature, rather reminding paint-box on market stalls or canvas brought from a dye-
house"56.
54 The division between "smooth" {nette) and "rough" (ruwe) painting manner was one of the fundamental différences between
the ways of elaborating the surface of a painting, commonly used both in North-European painting theory and painting praxis of
that time. See J.A. E m m e n s, Natuur, onderwijzing en oefening Bij een drieluik van Gerrit Don, [in:] Album Discipulorum J.G.
van Gelder, Utrecht 1963, pp. 125-128; E m m e n s, Rembrandt en de regels..., pp. 30-36; A.K. W h e e 1 о с к Jr., Reppraisal of
Gerard Dou's Réputation, [in:] William A. Clark Collection. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington 1978, pp. 60-67; B.P.J.
Broos, (review) S. S 1 i v e, Frans Hais, vol. 1-3, London 1970-1974, "Simiolus", 10 (1978-1979), pp. 121-123; O. N au mann,
Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635-1681), Davaco 1981, pp. 40^1 ; A 1 p e r s, op. cit., pp. 39-40; E. van de Wetering, Rem-
brandts Malweise: Werk im Dienst der Illusion, [in:] Rembrandt. Der Meister und seine Werkstatt: Gemàlde..., pp. 13-39.
55 "Ten ersten schier sonder teyckenen schilderen, wil hem met yeder niet schicken..." - C. van Mander, Den grondt der
edel vry schilderkonst, uitgegeven en van vertaling en commentar H. Miedema, Utrecht 1973, vol. 1: text, part 1, fol 47a.
56 "...er die Farben sehr vernunftig und kunstlich von ihrer ignen Art zu brechen / und nachmalen darmit auf der Tafel / der
Natur warhafte und lebhafte Einfàltigkeit / mit guter Harmonie des Lebens / auszubilden gewust / wormit er dann allen denen die
Augen erôfnet / welche / dem gemeinen Brauch nach / mehr Farber ais Mahler sind / indem sie die Hârtigkeit und rauhe Art der
Farben ganz frech und hart neben einander legen / daB sie mit der Natur ganz keine Gemeinschaft haben / sondern nur denen in den
Kram-Lâden gefullten Schachtlen / oder aus der Farberey gebrachten Tiichern ahnlich und gleich sehen" - Sand r a rt, Teutsche