Rembrandt, his life, his work and his time . asthe original of this fancy Muscovite. Ad-mitting a certain pueril-ity in the disguise, wemay justly call attentionto the breadth of treat-ment in this powerfulportrait, and to thevigour of chiaroscuroand richness of colourso admirably suggest-ive of the character andexpression depicted. In addition to por-traits more or less inthe nature of studies,such as the above, alarge number of studiesin the stricter sense of the term belong to this period. We may instance the boldlypainted head of 1635, formerly in the San Donato collection, nowin the posse
Rembrandt, his life, his work and his time . asthe original of this fancy Muscovite. Ad-mitting a certain pueril-ity in the disguise, wemay justly call attentionto the breadth of treat-ment in this powerfulportrait, and to thevigour of chiaroscuroand richness of colourso admirably suggest-ive of the character andexpression depicted. In addition to por-traits more or less inthe nature of studies,such as the above, alarge number of studiesin the stricter sense of the term belong to this period. We may instance the boldlypainted head of 1635, formerly in the San Donato collection, nowin the possession of Mr. L. Goldschmidt. The model was probablysome workman. The face is of a plebeian type, the hair dishevelled,the dress poor and plain. Such studies were, however, generallymade from models the master picked^up among the Jewish populationof Amsterdam. In the streets close at hand, he was able to chooseat will among those types of old men with hooked noses and stronglymarked features he noted for use in future compositions. They also. STUDY OF SASKIA, AND OTHER HEADS. 1636 (B. 365). 2i8 REMBRANDT gave him opportunities for the display of rich draperies and militaryaccoutrements. Some such accessory added to a study, transformedthe model into a hero of sacred history. Labelled in somewhatrandom fashion with Scriptural names, the works were more readilydisposed of, and such a designation often enhanced the success ofa brilliantly executed study. We may note as typical examplesthe studies of heads belonging to the Duke of Bedford (WoburnAbbey), Lord Derby, Sir Philip Miles, and Count Nostitz of Prague ;also an old man (signed, and dated 1633) in the Munich Pinacothek,and another in the Belvedere at Vienna, who no doubt gained thetitle St. Paul from the sword hanging on the wall beside the most famous of these studies is the Rabbi at Chatsworth, dated1635, which represents an old man with massive features, painted almostfull face. He wears a high turban and a rich m
Size: 1451px × 1721px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1894
