Elephants used to be a great rarity in Europe: there were only a few elephants in the continent in the entire seventeenth century. Hansken, a female elephant who was born on the island of Sri Lanka and arrived in Amsterdam in the summer of 1633, is the most famous ? and not just because Rembrandt drew her. Cornelis van Groenevelt, Hansken?s owner, earned a handsome living by teaching her tricks and touring the continent with her. Wherever she went, Hansken evoked amazement and admiration. People examined her, measured her and wrote down what they had seen.0Michiel Roscam Abbing tells Hansken?s story based on a meticulous analysis of the sources. He has reconstructed the route Hansken took. The traces left by Hansken in European cultural history also form a potent picture of the age. After Hansken?s death in 1655, her skeleton became the object of study, enabling myths about giants to be refuted. She was even used for the first scientific description of her species, Elephas maximus.0As a follow-up to 'Rembrandt?s Elephant, The Story of Hansken' (2006, ISBN 9789080874565), which was also published by Leporello.00Translation of ' Rembrandts olifant. In het spoor van Hansken', ISBN 9789079624195, Amsterdam: Leporello (2016). Translation by Clare Wilkinson.
A stunning catalogue of the seventy religious prints from the 2017 exhibition, featuring detailed background information on each piece. Rembrandt’s stunning religious prints stand as evidence of the Dutch master’s extraordinary skill as a technician and as a testament to his genius as a teller of tales. Here, several virtually unknown etchings, collected by the Feddersen family and now preserved for the ages at the University of Notre Dame, are made widely available in a lavishly illustrated volume. Building on the contributions of earlier Rembrandt scholars, noted art historian Charles M. Rosenberg illuminates each of the seventyreligious prints through detailed background information on the artist’s career as well as the historical, religious, and artistic impulses informing their creation. Readers will enjoy an impression of the earliest work, The Circumcision (1625-26); the famous Hundred Guilder Print; the enigmatic eighth state of Christ Presented to the People; one of a handful of examples of the very rare final posthumous state of The Three Crosses; and an impression and counterproof of The Triumph of Mordecai. From the joyous epiphany of the coming of the Messiah to the anguish of the betrayal of a father (Jacob) by his children, from choirs of angels waiting to receive the Virgin into heaven to the dog who defecates in the road by an ancient inn (The Good Samaritan), Rembrandt’s etchings offer a window into the nature of faith, aspiration, and human experience, ranging from the ecstatically divine to the worldly and mundane. Ultimately, these prints—modest, intimate, fragile objects—are great works of art which, like all masterpieces, reward us with fresh insights and discoveries at each new encounter. “Despite many reliable catalogues of Rembrandt etchings, very few have focused on the religious content of these prints. The outstanding range of the Feddersen Collection offers an excellent occasion for closer examination of Rembrandt’s development—as a printmaker but also as a spiritual devout Christian, especially evident from his thoughtful return to the same subjects across his career. Charles Rosenberg and his team at the Snite Museum deserve our thanks for fresh analysis of Rembrandt’s religious prints, combined with the latest scholarship on the artist and his etchings output. Rembrandt scholars but also all lovers of the artist will want to consult this important catalogue.” —Larry Silver, author (with Shelley Perlove) of Rembrandt’s Faith: Church and Temple in the Dutch Golden Age “Rembrandt’s etchings of religious themes capture the emotional heart of their subjects through a uniquely inventive approach to both technique and content. . . . The seventy prints gathered by Jack and Alfrieda Feddersen span the full range of Rembrandt’s production and offer an outstanding resource for appreciation and research. This catalogue tells the fascinating story of how the collection was formed and brings a fresh analysis to each print. Charles Rosenberg’s extensive catalogue entries will be useful reading for anyone interested in the history of European art and one of its most talented practitioners, Rembrandt van Rijn.” —Stephanie Dickey, Queen’s University
Though Rembrandt's study of the Bible has long been recognized, his interest in secular literature has been relatively neglected. In this volume, Amy Golahny uses a 1656 inventory to reconstruct Rembrandt's library, discovering anew how his reading of history contributed to his creative process. In the end, Golahny places Rembrandt in the learned vernacular culture of seventeenth-century Holland, painting a picture of a pragmatic reader whose attention to historical texts strengthened his rivalry with Rubens for visual drama and narrative erudition.
“Seymour Slive, who should be considered the dean of scholars of 17th-century Dutch art, brings a lifetime of study and erudition to Rembrandt Drawings. . . . You would have to go a long way to find a better guide than Mr. Slive.”—Wall Street Journal Written by renowned Rembrandt scholar Seymour Slive, this gorgeous volume explores the artist’s extraordinary achievements as a draftsman by examining more than 150 of his drawings. Reproduced in color, these works are accompanied by etchings and paintings by Rembrandt and others, including Leonardo and Raphael. Unlike other publications of Rembrandt’s drawings, here they are arranged thematically, which makes his genius abundantly clear. Individual chapters focus on self-portraits, portraits of family members and friends, the lives of women and children, nudes, copies, model and study sheets, animals, landscapes and buildings, religious and mythological subjects, historical subjects, and genre scenes. Slive discusses possible doubtful attributions, which account for the considerable reduction from earlier times in the number of drawings now ascribed to the master.
This volume is the fifth volume of A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, a project devoted to all Rembrandt’s paintings. This is the work of ‘The Rembrandt Research Project’, consisting of a group of scholars led since 1993 by Professor Ernst van de Wetering. The project began in 1968 with the aim of separating Rembrandt’s own paintings from the vast number of Rembrandtesque paintings made by his many apprentices and followers. Having opted for a chronological approach to the cataloguing of Rembrandt’s paintings (from 1625 till 1642) in the first three volumes, it was decided in 1993 to adopt a thematic approach for further volumes. This was largely to facilitate the recognition of different hands. The new approach yielded much more information not only about Rembrandt’s working methods but also about the function and meaning of his works. This expanded field of view meant that etchings and drawings with similar themes also needed to be included. In 2005 Volume IV appeared, devoted to Rembrandt’s self-portraits, in painting, etching and drawing. Volume V consists of a catalogue and analysis of the so-called small-scale history and genre paintings. That theme was chosen because this type of complex work shows a variety of full-length protagonists acting in different narrative settings. For this reason, in the 17th century, painting, etching or drawing biblical and mythological scenes was looked upon as an artist’s greatest challenge. The choice of this theme proved to be highly fruitful in several ways. Small-scale history pieces reveal Rembrandt’s artistic ambitions most clearly. They also offer the authors a much more accurate view of the daily routine in Rembrandt’s studio; his apprentices mostly copied this type of work or used it as a starting point for their own. As a result it was easier to distinguish the works by the master himself from those of his pupils. All aspects of the skills necessary to create a pictorial illusion play a part in the creation of small-figured history paintings. These aspects were referred to as ‘the basis of the noble art of painting’ in Rembrandt’s days. Two seventeenth century painter/theoreticians discussed these principles systematically in two books which up till now have only sporadically been consulted in the context of 17th century studio practice. Karel van Mander wrote his Grond der edel vry schilder-const [Basis of the Art of Painting] in 1604 and Samuel van Hoogstraten produced his Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst [Academy of Painting] in 1678. Van Hoogstraten was a pupil of Rembrandt between 1642 and ’48. Comparing the two books and considering them in relation to Rembrandt’s oeuvre, gradually reveals his original views on painting and how these had developed during his career. Thus, the authors of this new Volume of A Corpus have gained an unexpected and profound insight into Rembrandt’s ideas and approach to his art. The ‘basic aspects’ of painting included the following topics: function and methods of drawing; human proportions; various positions, poses and gestures of figures; ways of arranging a scene’s protagonists in a composition; facial expressions of a variety of emotions; light, shadows and reflected light; landscape and animals; draperies and articles of clothing; methods of painting, and various characteristics and uses of colours. The way these ‘basic aspects’ were selected and dealt with presumed that the more practical side to the art of painting would be learned by the apprentice in the daily routine of his master’s studio. With the development of art history in the nineteenth century the ‘basic aspects’ of the art of painting listed above acquired the vague label of ‘style’. However, the seventeenth century categorization of the ‘basic aspects’ provides a much more acute means of probing the views and criteria for judging a painting by Rembrandt and his contemporaries than the concept of ‘style’. Volume V in the series A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings breaks new ground from the point of view of art history, not only in its approach to Rembrandt as an artist, but more particularly to his thinking about painting. Moreover, a detailed comparison of Rembrandt’s works and those by his apprentices who based their works on his, led to a profound and detailed understanding of Rembrandt’s views on pictorial quality. In art historical literature quality usually does not feature prominently since it is regarded as being too subjective. This comparative approach, together with the analysis of seventeenth century categories of thought about painting, have given the research on Rembrandt a new impetus, at the same time allowing us to see more clearly through seventeenth century eyes. That is why the new volume of the ‘Corpus’ is an important publication – not only for art historians but also for all who want to fully enjoy the numerous works of art that date back to the Dutch Golden Age, now scattered in museums around the world.
A curator of Dutch drawings at the Albertina surveys the work of Rembrandt, Jacob van Ruisdael, Meindert Hobbema, Philips Koninck, and others, presenting the various forms of art that dominated the scene in seventeenth-century Holland. 112 colour illustrations
Now in paperback, a beautifully illustrated introduction to the life and work of the exceptional Dutch painter. Rembrandt van Rijn and the Netherlands grew up together. The artist, born in Leiden in 1606, lived during the tumultuous period of the Dutch Revolt and the establishment of the independent Dutch Republic. He later moved to Amsterdam, a cosmopolitan center of world trade, and became the city’s most fashionable portraitist. His attempts to establish himself with the powerful court at The Hague failed, however, and the final decade of his life was marked by personal tragedy and financial hardship. Rembrandt’s Holland considers the life and work of this celebrated painter anew, as it charts his career alongside the visual culture of urban Amsterdam and the new Dutch Republic. In the book, Larry Silver brings to light Rembrandt’s problematic relationship with the ruling court at The Hague and reexamines how his art developed from large-scale, detailed religious imagery to more personal drawings and etchings, moving self-portraits, and heartfelt close-ups of saintly figures. Ultimately, this readable biography shows how both Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age ripened together. Featuring up-to-date scholarship and in-depth analysis of Rembrandt’s major works, and illustrated beautifully throughout, it is essential reading for art students and anyone who enjoys the work of the Dutch Masters.
