| This contest is fueled by the following news: |
| | Rembrandt's “Night Watch”:
In 1642, Rembrandt received an order for one of the six group portraits from the Amsterdam musketeers for a new building of the civic militia; the other two orders were given to his students. While making this 4m picture - the largest of his creations - Rembrandt has cut the Dutch portrait painting using canons, for two centuries having predicted art finds of the 19th century – the era of realism and impressionism. Models were represented rather directly, in motion, which was not liked by the customers, many of whom appeared pushed to the background:
So brave was the composition of the group portrait having army memoirs from the Netherlands revolution that it frightened off the customers and even they refused to accept this work. Biographers of Rembrandt argue that the failure of “Night Watch” had a great impact on the future career of the artist. The work was given the name before the restoration in the 1940’s as it was camouflaged under a dark lacquer. The secret version about the history of “Night Patrol” has been portrayed in the movies of British director Peter Greenway “Nightwatching” (2007) and “Rembrandt's J'accuse "(2008).
Whatever were the reasons for the chilling relations of Amsterdam public towards Rembrandt, the change in tastes resulted in the fading of his glory and gradual impoverishment. After “Night Watch” very few pupils were left in Rembrandt’s studio. His former apprentices, after having learned and adopted one or a few features from Rembrandt, became more successful and in more in demand as artists than their teacher. This is especially true about Govert Flinck who perfectly mastered the external bravura of dynamic Rembrandt’s canvas works in the 1630’s. Gerard Dow from Leiden is one of Rembrandt’s first students and throughout his life he remained under the influence of the aesthetics of canvas works like “Concert” 1626. Fabritius worked in the studio around 1640 and experimented with artistic styles and developed light colored backgrounds, which brought him great success in Delft.
In the 1640s, Rembrandt customers and students continued to leave him not only because of the failure of “Night Watch”, but also because at that time detailed fine work became more fashionable and even Rembrandt was very much inclined to this style in his early years. The logic of creative development led the artist completely towards the opposite direction. With the passage of time he began to prefer pronounced brush strokes and also sharp contrasts of light and shade concealing almost all background minutes.
The Rembrandt Transition Period:
Not much is documented about the private life of Rembrandt during the 1640’s. Only Nicolaes Maas from Dordrecht is known to be his student in this period. Most probably, the artist continued to live life as king sized as before. Family members of the late Saskia were very much concerned how he disposed of her dowry. Nanny of Titus, Geertje Dircks, even sued him for turning away from the promise of marrying her; for settling this matter Rembrandt had to pay money to her.
By the end of the 1640’s Rembrandt came closer to his young maidservant Hendrickje Stoffels, whose style is felt in many of the portraits of this period (“Girl at a Window”, “Bathing Woman”, “A Woman in Bed”). The parochial council condemned Hendrickje for being a" sinful live-in” when in 1654 she gave birth to their daughter Cornelia. At this time, Rembrandt steps aside from the themes which had the grandiose national or universal perception. There are not many paintings from this period and nothing is known about his self-portraits also.
The artist worked for the engraved portraits of mayor Jan Six (1647) and other influential and respectable citizens. He used all his knowledge and techniques about engraving while carefully working on the etching “Christ Healing the Sick”, popularly known as “The Hundred Guilder Print”, - as it was sold for this amount in the auction. He worked on this etching for six long years from 1643 on 1649 with great subtlety of light and shade. Till 1660 Rembrandt worked on his last etching “The Three Crosses” (incomplete).
During his days of struggle, Rembrandt is attracted towards the landscapes with frowned clouds, strong wind and other attributes of a romantic ruffled nature in the traditions of Rubens and Segers. “Winter Landscape” of 1646 belongs to the treasure of Rembrandt’s realism. However, Rembrandt as a landscape painter doesn’t have as many masterpiece paintings as he has as drawings and engravings, like “The Mill” (1641) and “The Three Trees” (1643). He also masters other new genres - still-life (with wilderness and hulks) and horse portraits (though in the general opinion Rembrandt never had success with horses).
Two works about daily household life “The Holy Family” from 1640 and 1645 get a touch of poetic interpretation. Together with “David's Farewell to Jonathan” (1642), “The Adoration of the Shepherds”(1646) and “The Rest of the Flight into Egypt” (1647) they allow us to understand Rembrandt had a tendency towards idealization and a patriarchal way of homely life. These works are full with warm feelings of sibling like affinity, love and compassion. The chiaroscuro in them reaches unprecedented riches of shades. The coloring is especially warm, with a prevalence of flickering red and golden-brown tones. |
|
|
|
|
|
This Wednesday, July 14 is the 403rd birthday of Rembrandt van Rijn. Rembrandt is one of the most famous painters in art history and the most famous Dutch painter. After becoming famous, Rembrandt taught many artists in his Dutch studio for over 20 years - the period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age. During this period the Dutch style of painting was largely shaped by Rembrandt studio and his techniques were passed from generation to generation of Dutch artists.
