Trending Rembrandt

The Great Masters, Quantum Publishing, Ltd.

So, I picked up (read struggled to lift!) this 717 page book at the library the other day.  Among the artists featured in this publication you will find Rubens, Goya, Manet, Whistler, Renoir, Degas and many others.  It tells you a little about each artist, puts their life in chronological order then features sample paintings whereupon they have a page of DETAILS! 

Manna to the artist. . .like putting your nose right up to the painting, right? 

Rembrandt Page Detail, The Great Masters, Quantum Publishing, Ltd.

 Security guards don't LUV the patrons nosing the paintings!  

Rembrandt's life has stuck with me for some reason. . .his name may be the first I remember hearing of as a child and putting it together that he was an artist. . .how about you?  Was it Rembrandt?  What has stuck with me like glue is the fact that his last years were not fabulous. . .born in 1606, the time period from 1649 on (he died in 1669) was filled with financial hardship and personal tragedy.  Having to sell off effects to pay his creditors, he managed to survive in a meager way by taking a salary from a company formed by his son, Titus, and his companion Hendrickje Stoffels.  All of this on the heels of losing his wife and several children.  Naturally this says a lot about the 1600's, death and dying of the young not uncommon at all.  BUT. . .

The Jewish Bride, courtesy of the Art Renewal Center

Placing that knowledge side by side with his famous "The Jewish Bride" painted somewhere between 1664 and 1668, shows that he still had his painting chops, but somehow in art circles he had steadily waned in popularity.  Elegant, courtly portraiture trended in the 1640's and Rembrandt stayed true to himself despite fashionable trends. I have stared at my favorite of his self-portraits, knowing it was painted in 1640.  It's in the National Gallery in London.       

Detail, Self Portrait, 1640, *The Great Masters, Quantum Publishing, Ltd.

Oh my, I find it superb in its detailed subtlety. . .made all the more mesmerizing by the knowledge that this painter experienced hardship and adversity in the last 20 years of his life.  In my fantasy mind he is alive and well, basking in laudable appreciation of his noble, superior gift.  I'm both humbled and a little sad to think of all those among us today with such illustrious talent, never to be recognized and possibly experiencing a meager life.  Or instead, meager lives not allowing for the expression of genius.  

So much to wonder about in the snapshot of our own life; the "if onlys" and "how comes."  The mystery of how our lives unfold is really quite stunning.  The sheer randomness belies nearly everything we stake our surety on, which (on my part) leads to a questioning of so much that we insist upon writing in black. . .preferring instead to greatly favor subtle gray.