Unique 1668-9 portrait of his daughter by Rembrandt Van Rijn oil on tinplate

Description: P Perhaps one of the world's great paintings for it's exposition of personal warmth and intimacy. There is extensive craquelure characteristic of age. The tinplate it is painted on was only invented in the 1600s and would have been expensive, providing a neutral ground as compared to copper. Although there is significant paint loss, it is testament to the quality of the painting that the warmth of the sitters comes across after 350 years. Moreover the brushwork is quite raw, using few strokes.. If one compares the detail of the fingers and clothes, which lack detail, and dark shadows with those of Rembrandt's early work (see for example the 'Stone operation' , a similar sized work in the Leiden collection), one can see the similarity of technique and focus on the sitter's engaged expressions and upon their connection through the light of the candle. Although the present image has been attributed to Gotfried Schalcken in a much later engraving by D.J.Pound, the coarse nature of the paint strokes, which seems here to defy the smooth, rounded naturalistic ambiance, is the opposite of the fine brushwork of Schalcken, who was regarded as an exemplar of the 'fijnschilders' (fine artists), who used very fine detailed brushwork in order to achieve an intended, similar realistic effect. The demonstrably fewer brush strokes are much more characteristic of Rembrandt. One cannot deny the warm and intimate expressions of the sitters, ingeniously embodied in a few paint strokes, which stimulates an empathetic response in the viewer and which was/is Rembrandt's true enduring signature. Interestingly Rembrandt was never thought to have painted his daughter Cornelia, but if one inverts the present image , one can see a close similarity of the girl with the engraving entitled 'Rembrandt's daughter' by D.J. Pound, even despite the paint loss which makes the image seem naive. Pound attributes the original image to Rembrandt, however such an original oil painting is never thought to exist. If the original is by Rembrandt - then that image is characteristic of his later work which is more finely detailed. The present painting is more characteristic of his early, less detailed work, possibly his own daughter evoking a more primal, reflexive style, especially in his older age when his senses were failing. Moreover - his daughter was only 15 when he died in 1669 and it is evident that the present painting would have been made in the very latter years of his life - when it is acknowledged that his abilities were fading (see the book 'Rembrandt's daughter') and he could not produce works on a large scale. Unfortunately, some of the paint is lost from the girl's face and much of the nuance is lost. However , overall, the atmosphere is rich and the intent in the painting is still strong and little is lost with the missing paint. Rembrandt was prolific at painting his family and acquaintances- so it would be inconceivable that he did not paint his daughter. Moreover - the family resemblance (as shown) is also seen in the pursed lips, expression and full face of the boy..perhaps a more distant relative.... Indeed - she does appear younger here than she does in Pound's engraving. Moreover, Rembrandt was famous for drawing upon his own features as a paradigm, when producing portraits of others, noting that the boy does look somewhat like a young version of himself - as shown above....... See also examples of Rembrandt's signature. Especially the first character/s. Indeed there is a close relation between the 3 contemporaries, Schalcken, who was a pupil of Gerrit Dou... who himself also studied under Rembrandt. However the style of this painting, with greater attention to the candle and the expression of the sitters themselves (and less to detail of the clothing and indeed the hands), is characteristic of Rembrandt himself. It is however noted that there are significant losses to the paint albeit that one can see beyond these such that the painting evokes a warm empathetic response in the viewer in a way that only Rembrandt can achieve. Note also that the paint loss seen here is characteristic of early paintings on tinplate as there was little experience of painting on a tin surface, (albeit that it was expensive and provided a neutral ground as compared to copper) resulting in some paints, adequate and proven for painting on copper, not being so good at adhering to tin...as manifest in the paint loss on the present painting...albeit perhaps only now manifest over 350 years later. Tin might also catalyse oxidation of the paint resulting in time related embrittlement and craquelure whereas copper has the opposite effect. This embrittled paint giving rise to cracking derived from rapidly changing diurnal thermally induced stresses (hot/cold, day night) in the paint layers due to the greater thermal conductivity and more rapid expansion/contraction of the tinplate substrate (as compared to other substrates (wood canvas etc.)). ..The differential expansion and contraction of the substrate and paint, ultimately producing cracking, paint loss and oxidation of the unprotected substrate,... a characteristic of early paintings on tinplate, and which is seen in the present painting.....such degradation all being a testament to the historicity of the painting The frame has old wood worm holes and signs of age. Track Page Views With Auctiva's Counter

Price: 19950 GBP

Location: Stockport

End Time: 2024-08-22T12:50:44.000Z

Shipping Cost: 29.28 GBP