Rembrandt under the Skin. The Mauritshuis Portrait of Rembrandt with Gorget in retrospect (original) (raw)

The Pitfalls of Obviousness. The Self-framing Picture and the 'Teleology' of Painting in a Late Self-portrait by Rembrandt

Acta Historiae Artium Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 2017

This study aims at a new interpretation of the late Rembrandt’s mysterious Self-Portrait with Two Circles at Kenwood House (1665). Former readings of the picture neglected the fact that in this case the work of painting itself became the explicit subject. Both the psychological evocativeness of the personality represented and the “circles” as enigmatic symbols elicited especial interest as they are very much in evidence – and although commentators realized the presence of the brush, palette and mahlstick, practically noone took notice of the work in progress itself, vanishing behind the figure in the grey area of the unusually light background. Following Gary Schwartz I argue that with the two circles Rembrandt refers to the legendary contest of Apelles and Protogenes told by Pliny and Vasari’s famous story about Giotto’s “O” – both stories are about the competence of the painters to understand abstract tracks as signs of artistic skills. By minimizing the iconic difference between the real and the painted canvas, Rembrandt indicates his ambition to be part of the contest of the great painters of the past – by showing himself present as an imaginary person before the imaginary canvas, and, at the same time, by calling attention to the presence of the material tracks of his “rembrandtian” manner, put between the fine tracks of his ancient predecessors, on the real canvas. Rembrandt, self-portrait, figure/ground, iconic difference, painting as a performative

Origins and Meanings of Rembrandt's Late Drawing Style

The Art Bulletin, 1996

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Ernst van de Wetering and Bernhard Schackenburg, eds., The Mystery of the Young Rembrandt

Historians of Netherlandish Art Newsletter and Review of Books, 2004

(review) Ernst van de Wetering and Bernhard Schackenburg, eds., The Mystery of the Young Rembrandt. [Cat. exh. Staatliche Museen Kassel, November 3, 2001-January 27, 2002; Museum het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam, February 20-May 26, 2002.] Wolfratshausen: Edition Minerva, 2001