Rembrandt: True to Life

I was unsure about this exhibition which is closing at the NGV on 10 September but I’m very glad I went. It is mostly etchings – over 100 of the 314 prints he made in his lifetime are on display. Many owned by the NGV. It also includes what are described as key paintings from the NGV and on loan from other museums. So, starting with the etchings, which are tiny, but come up well when photographed. This is his first dated etching, made in 1628, a portrait of his mother, named prosaically The artist’s mother: head and bust, three-quarters right.

A year later there is another of his mother. He has experimented with cross-hatching techniques to create the effect of light and shade. The artist’s mother, with hand on chest: small bust.

Here is Bald-headed man in profile right: the artist’s father(?), made in 1630. It’s uncanny how modern these works look. Could have been made today.

He made around 80 self-portraits over the course of his career and this is an early one made in 1630. As the title indicates he’s experimenting with facial expressions. Self-portrait in a cap, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Cute.

I liked all of his self portraits, showing him ageing over the years. This is from 1634 Self-portrait wearing a soft cap: full-face, head only. He looks sort of mischievous.

They think this is a self -portrait made in the same year. I don’t think it looks like him. The accompanying note says: Rembrandt took his own features as the starting point for this etching. He developed the portrait into a tronie (a portrait) by adding a beard and a wart to the left of the nose, as well as extravagant clothing. Evidence of his interest in physiognomy and role-playing in all of his work. So not really a self-portrait despite the title; Self-portrait(?) with plumed cap and lowered sabre.

In 1636, when he was thirty years old he made the Self-portrait with Saskia; his first wife, two years after they were married. Quite lovely.

And three years later in 1639 he made Self-portrait leaning on a stone sill. The note draws our attention to the bottom right corner where the artist has chalked in possible alterations to the etching plate. We were told at an accompanying lecture that the reason so many of Rembrandt’s etchings are so well-preserved is because his work was recognised at the time as being superior to other etchings of the period, and so were kept in albums or framed rather than just pinned to walls or shared by hand to all and sundry.

Here’s Self-portrait in a flat cap and embroidered dress made in 1642.

And a very different one from 1648 showing the artist at work. Self-portrait etching at a window. Dressed in ordinary clothes, including hat, this one seems the most authentic image of the artist.

There were lots of other heads which I also liked, but here are just a couple. First Cornelis Claesz. Ansio, preacher 1641. He looks like a cowboy in that hat.

And Bearded man in a velvet cap with a jewel clasp 1637. Such intricate detail.

From the mid 1630s, Rembrandt focussed his attention on history paintings which included biblical subjects. On a small scale and in a monochrome medium, he created dramatic narratives the express the emotions of each protagonist. His techniques ranging from light, linear compositions made in the manner of drwings to densely worked surfaces that procude deep blacks. In his religious works … Rembrandt took the process of etching further than any artist before him, creating images that rigal paintings in their complexity and impact. His most famous biblical etching is The hundred guilder print made throughout the 1640s. It is also called Christ healing the sick or Christ preaching or Christ with the Sick around him, Receiving Little Children. It’s described as one of Rembrandt’s most complex, highly worked and acclaimed etchings. Some of the figures are drawn in contour lines, while others are rendered in soft dark tones while others recede into darkness under a looming stone building. Rembrandt achieves this effect through very fine cross-hatching, which rivals painting in its tonal range and nuances … the culmination of the artist’s longstanding fascination with light and shade. The rich chiaroscuro effect magnified by the Japanese paper used for the print. In 1649 and impression of this print was sold for 100 guilders – then an exorbitant sum – giving the etching its nickname.

Here is The raising of Lazarus: the larger plate from 1632. Its described as typically Baroque in its striking composition, theatrical gestures and dramatic lighting… The pictorial space positions the viewer in the cave-like tombe as witness to the miracle.

This is The Return of the prodigal son 1636. Here Rembrandt pictures the meeting between father and son as an intense expression of remorse and forgiveness. He liked to tell a story.

This is Adam and Eve 1638. The subject of Adam and Eve was a motif that artists used to demonstrate their ability to portray male and female nudes, landscape and the animals in Paradise. Here Rembrandt’s version is unprecedented in its realism, both in the depiction of the nudes, and in their gestures and emotions.

This is Abraham’s sacrifice from 1655. Rembrandt has chosen to depict the dramatic climax of the story at the sacrificial altar. With the angel appearing to prevent bloodshed. Bloodthirsty things these bible stories! To me this etching is much looser than the earlier ones.

Which is also true of St Francis beneath a tree, praying from 1657. This subject was a quintessentially Catholic one, rarely portrayed in Dutch art and only treated once by Rembrandt.

I also liked Rembrandt’s prints of landscapes, which I’ve not been aware of before this exhibition. This is The three trees from 1643, his largest and most evocatiave landscape etching. The sky, with its massed clouds, diagonal passages of rain and bursts of light, creates a sense of drama.There are also figures in this landscape but you have to look very closely to see them.

This is Cottage with a white paling from 1648, also very evocative.

Rembrandt also made etchings of ordinary people going about their daily lives like this etching of The goldsmith made in 1655.

These are just a few examples of the many etchings on display. They really are lovely and worth a trip to the NGV in themselves. The exhibition includes a recreation of the sorts of things Rembrandt had in his home – which we know about when they were all catalogued for sale when he became bankrupt! There are a small number of paintings that are relevant to Rembrandt’s development as an artist. This is Tobit and Anna with the kid 1626. It’s considered a turning point in Rembrandt’s technical ability and innovation … [showing] the influence of his teacher Pieter Lastman’s principles of composition and the emphasis on the expression of emotions. The features of Anna bear a sstrong resemlance to those of the artist’s mother. It’s on loan from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

This is Two old men disputing 1628 from the NGV’s own collection. It was painted when the artist was only around twenty two years old and is indicative of the individuality and brilliance that distinguished him among the leading artists of Leiden… Here Rembrandt shows his distinctive exploration of light and darkness, which transcends the technique of his teacher Pieter Lastman …[and]…foreshadows Rembrandt’s extraordinary achievements in painting. Because it is such an important painting it’s often on loan from the NGV to other galleries and museums holding Rembrandt exhibitions.

I’ve seen Man in oriental clothing 1635, on loan from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam before – presumably at another Rembrandt exhibition here at the NGV. Rembrandt collected clothing and artefacts from Middle Eastern and Asian cultures and this is genre he helped popularise during his lifetime. I love the detail in the turban. Rembrandt was said to practice tying and wearing them.

This Self-portrait 1659 is from the NGV’s own collection. The artist was fifty three and he depicts himself with disarming honesty.

This is Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels 1654 with velvet beret, on loan from the Musée du Louvre, Paris. She is Rembrandt’s third partner – never married because Saskia’s will meant he would lose half his estate if he remarried! The note tells us that his reputation suffered because he lived with her outside of the marriage contract! She came into his household as a domestic servant, so the clothes she is wearing are not an indication of class or status.

This is thought to be Rembrandt’s portrait of his son. Hence the title, Titus van Rijn (?), the artist’s son, reading 1656-57 on loan from the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Titus died at age 26 in 1668 from an unknown illness.

This is Portrait of a white-haired man 1667, the second last portrait Rembrandt made. It’s in the NGV collection. There is great variation in the application of paint in the face and hair, and Rembrandt has also used the sharp end of his brush to gouge marks in the hair to add texture. You can clearly see these when looking at the painting close up but it looks great from a distance. His late painting style was out of fashion by the mid seventeenth century, but became a very important influence on later artists, particularly on the Impressionist painters.

This is The mill 1645-48 on loan from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. It’s Rembrandt’s largest landscape painting; restored in 1977-79 revealing a much brighter palette and more dynamic composition than had been apparent beforehand. It’s now considered to be a study of atmospheric effects not dissimilar to the motif depicted in the etching of The three trees (seen above).

The exhibition also includes the portrait of Rembrandt owned by the NGV that was originally thought to be a self-portrait but which is now understood to be by one or more of his assistants in the Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn studio in the 1660s. Sad looking chap!

So there it is, a very brief outline of the current Rembrandt exhibition at the NGV. Well worth a look but you only have until the 10th of September 2023.