DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0233
DUTCH PAINTING
207
and others; and the Rijks Museum has the great productions of his
middle and last period, including The Syndics and The Night Watch.
Apart from his individual and amazing portrayal of shadows and
light effects, Rembrandt stands alone as the interpreter of the Bible
story. In portraiture he is profoundly searching; and no one ever
painted more forcible self-portraits than Rembrandt van Rijn.
Of all the qualities that Rembrandt possesses the most striking one
is understanding of light and shadow. Fromentin very aptly defines
this Rembrandtesque chiaroscuro in his Maitres d’autrefois (Paris,
1876):
“To envelop and immerse everything in a bath of shadow; to plunge
light itself into it only to withdraw it afterwards in order to make it
appear more distant and radiant; to make dark waves revolve around
illuminated centres, grading them, sounding them, thickening them;
to make the obscurity nevertheless transparent, the half gloom easy
to pierce, and, finally, to give a kind of permeability to the strongest
colors that prevents their becoming blackness,—this is the prime
condition and the difficulties of this very special art. It goes without
saying that if any one ever excelled in this it was Rembrandt.”
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG OFFICER.
Rembrandt van Rijn Collection of
(1606-1669). Mr. A. W. Erickson.
This picture signed lower right, “Rembrandt f. 1636” is painted
on a panel, 20 x 25% inches. It is one of Rembrandt’s finest and most
pleasing portraits. With masterly skill the artist has painted the
light in the eyes and the fine lines and texture of the lips.
The subject is supposed to be Francois Copal, the brother-in-law
of Saskia van Ulenburgh, Rembrandt’s wife, and there is abundant
evidence in support of the theory. Dr. Bode in his Rembrandt notes:
“There is a pair of portraits in the Liechtenstein Gallery at Vienna,
dated 1636, of a Young Officer with Thick Black Hair and His Wife,
in costumes like those in which Rembrandt painted Saskia and him-
self. The young couple here represented was probably closely con-
207
and others; and the Rijks Museum has the great productions of his
middle and last period, including The Syndics and The Night Watch.
Apart from his individual and amazing portrayal of shadows and
light effects, Rembrandt stands alone as the interpreter of the Bible
story. In portraiture he is profoundly searching; and no one ever
painted more forcible self-portraits than Rembrandt van Rijn.
Of all the qualities that Rembrandt possesses the most striking one
is understanding of light and shadow. Fromentin very aptly defines
this Rembrandtesque chiaroscuro in his Maitres d’autrefois (Paris,
1876):
“To envelop and immerse everything in a bath of shadow; to plunge
light itself into it only to withdraw it afterwards in order to make it
appear more distant and radiant; to make dark waves revolve around
illuminated centres, grading them, sounding them, thickening them;
to make the obscurity nevertheless transparent, the half gloom easy
to pierce, and, finally, to give a kind of permeability to the strongest
colors that prevents their becoming blackness,—this is the prime
condition and the difficulties of this very special art. It goes without
saying that if any one ever excelled in this it was Rembrandt.”
PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG OFFICER.
Rembrandt van Rijn Collection of
(1606-1669). Mr. A. W. Erickson.
This picture signed lower right, “Rembrandt f. 1636” is painted
on a panel, 20 x 25% inches. It is one of Rembrandt’s finest and most
pleasing portraits. With masterly skill the artist has painted the
light in the eyes and the fine lines and texture of the lips.
The subject is supposed to be Francois Copal, the brother-in-law
of Saskia van Ulenburgh, Rembrandt’s wife, and there is abundant
evidence in support of the theory. Dr. Bode in his Rembrandt notes:
“There is a pair of portraits in the Liechtenstein Gallery at Vienna,
dated 1636, of a Young Officer with Thick Black Hair and His Wife,
in costumes like those in which Rembrandt painted Saskia and him-
self. The young couple here represented was probably closely con-