Rembrandt: The Painter at Work

by Ernst van de Wetering

Overview

Rembrandt's intriguing painting technique stirred the imaginations of art lovers during his lifetime and has done so ever since. In this book, now revised, updated, and with a new foreword by the author, Rembrandt's pictorial intentions and the variety of materials and techniques he applied to create his fascinating effects are unraveled in depth. At the same time, this "archaeology" of Rembrandt's paintings yields information on many other levels and offers a view of Rembrandt's daily practice and artistic considerations while simultaneously providing a more dimensional image of the artist.

Copub: Amsterdam University Press

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520258846
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/06/2009
Edition description:	First Edition, Revised Edition
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 10.40(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	1560L (what's this?)

About the Author

Ernst van de Wetering is Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of Amsterdam. He has published extensively on Rembrandt and historical painting techniques, as well as in the field of theory and ethics of conservation and restoration.

Table of Contents

	Preface	X
	Acknowledgements	XIII
I	Introduction: Rembrandt--an Alchemist?	2
	Workshop Secrets	6
	The Self-Supporting Studio?	8
II	Painting Materials and Working Methods of the Young Rembrandt	10
	The Support	11
	The Ground	17
	The First Sketch, the Monochrome Underpainting and the First Lay-in of Colour	23
	The 'Working-up'	32
III	Lost Drawings and the Use of Erasable Drawing Boards and 'Tafeletten'	46
	Lost Drawing Excrcises	48
	'Tavolette'	53
	Drawing Tablets in Seventeenth-Century Prints, a False Lead?	58
	'Tafeletten' and 'Tablets a Papier'	60
	Surviving Dutch 'Tafeletten'	62
IV	The Creation of the Pictorial Idea	74
	On the Function of Drawings	75
	The Painting Contest	81
	Rembrandt's Studio Scene and its Art-Theoretical Statement	87
V	The Canvas Support	90
	Introduction	91
	Radiographs as a Means of Studying the Canvas	93
	Historic Sources on the Nature and Origin of Canvas Used by Painters	95
	Thread Density	96
	Problems in Determining the Warp Direction	97
	Thread Density and Weave Characteristics of Canvases by or Attributed to Rembrandt	100
	Interpreting Cusping	111
	Strip Widths and Painting Formats	123
	Some Remarks on the Grounds of Rembrandt's Canvases	129
VI	The Palette; on the Relationship between Style and Painting Technique	132
	Selective Palettes	136
	The Development of the Palette as a Tool	141
	Palettes for the Blue Robe, a White Horse or Human Skin	144
	Technical Limitations	148
	Rembrandt's Use of Limited Palettes and the Concept of 'Houding'	149
VII	Rembrandt's Brushwork and Illusionism; an Art-Theoretical Approach	154
	The Visible Brushstroke	160
	Traditional Formulae and Experimental Developments	169
	Paint Surface and the Evocation of Space	179
VIII	Rembrandt's Method of Working in the 'Night Watch' and his Late Paintings	192
	Doerner's 'Glazing Myth'	193
	The Night Watch	195
	The Late Rembrandt	203
	The Local 'Imprimatura'	211
	Elaborating the Flesh Tints	215
IX	The Search for Rembrandt's Binding Medium	224
	Questioning the Painter's Eye	225
	Questioning the Scientists' Results	229
	A New Effort to 'Break the Code'	234
	Additions to Rembrandt's Paint	236
X	The Impact of Time and Rembrandt's Ideas on Colour and Tone	244
	The Yellowed Varnish and the Different Aging of Paint	245
	Rembrandt's Intentions with Colour and Tone	251
	The Aging of Pigments	257
	The Darkening of Paint and the Etchings as Touchstones	262
XI	Perspectives on the Quality of Rembrandt's Art	264
	Rembrandt, the Famous Painter	265
	Contemporary Praise	268
	The Craftsman and the Artist	272
	Epilogue on Quality	273
	Biographical Data, and Chronological List of Rembrandt's Works Reproduced in this Book	283
	Notes	292
	Bibliography	312
	Glossary	321
	Index	326
	Concordance	337
	Photo Acknowledgements	340

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Art lovers from genuine aficionados to weekend museum-goers will find plenty to attract them in this updated reprint."—History Wire

Editorial Reviews

Art lovers from genuine aficionados to weekend museum-goers will find plenty to attract them in this updated reprint.

History Wire

Van de Wetering's approach to Rembrandt's painting eschews traditional stylistic analysis and iconographic explication in favor of examining the artist's materials and methods of painting. This technical approach is neatly conjoined with an appreciation of the artistic theory that affected the master's manner. The careful exfoliating of data derived from the laboratory about panels, canvases, underpainting, colors, binders, varnishes, and so forth, along with a subtle exploitation of documentary sources, suggests a useful and fresh approaches to Rembrandtian problems. While a radical new understanding of the master's art does not emerge from this study, the Rembrandt student will be disabused of conventional notions about his painting methods, pictorial construction, use of drawing, and likely original appearance. Advanced art history and museum libraries will need to acquire this important addition to the literature.Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York

Library Journal

...[A] collection of papers composed over twenty years, coming from various angles at the painter's practice...
— London Review of Books

Julian Bell

This is a very rich book, a deeply felt analysis of an artist whom the author knows better than almost any other living scholar.
—Times Literary Supplement

Christopher Brown