GALLERY
REMBRANDT,
THE LIFE OF CHRIST: Introduction
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GALLERY
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REMBRANDT,
THE LIFE OF CHRIST: Introduction
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Part 1 |
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Introduction
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 Portrait of Christ's Head Painted about 1650; Oil on wood; State Museum, Berlin-Dahlem |
MORE
THAN ANY OTHER ARTIST OF
the period, Rembrandt strove to give earthly reality to the face of
Christ; and, at the same time, no other artist endowed that face with
more radiant kindness - particularly in his later paintings. Such works,
though radically different from most of so-called Christian art, reveal
a true depth of spiritual understanding and sentiment. Rembrandt was
also a painter of the common people of history and of his time. Because
of his profound experience of humanity, he was able to portray his subjects
not only as sinful yet repentant, but also as a being created in the
likeness of God their Creator. Rembrandt's Christ was endowed with indescribable
goodness and purity, the essence of one who would make the ultimate
sacrifice in order to secure redemption for humankind. |
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As a painter, Rembrandt's works reveal a new kind of beauty, far removed from the classical kind - a vision and an interpretation of man which transfigures the least beautiful face, or the ugliest body. Like my friend C.H. might observe, Rembrandt was a painter of the insignificant or little people. |
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He was born Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn on the 15th of July, 1606, in the Weddesteeg at Leyden; the son of the village miller, Harmen Gerritzoon van Rijn, and Neeltgen Willems-dochter van Zuytbrouck, the daughter of a local baker. Rembrandt entered
the Latin section of the University of Leyden for a short-lived academic
career. He departed from the school a brief six months later to become
an apprentice under the hand of the popular painter Jacob Isaakszoon
van Swanen-burgh, whose studio was also located in Leyden. |
 Portrait of Rembrandt, Pen and ink wash, Signed and dated: RHL 1630 The Louvre, Paris |
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In 1632 Rembrandt moved from Leyden and set up his studio in Amsterdam. This same year he began work on The Young Christ in the Temple, thus beginning a long and remarkable study of the life of Christ by arguably the world's greatest painter. |
| Rembrandt did not, however, casually assume his pursuit of depicting the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth. During his time, much of the world of art surrounded the church and involved service to the Bishops and priests, as it was supported by the wealth of the organized church. Rembrandt, it seems, deplored this form or pandering to a church that was more concerned with physical adornment than it was with spiritual beauty. Skeptical of religious art, he kept somewhat of a distance from such patrons and commissions. Gradually, however, he began to explore his own relationship to the teachings and message of Christ through his paintings. | |
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portrayed himself, for example, as the transgressor in need of redemption,
the fallen heir who had betrayed his father's trust - in the story of
the Prodigal Son. In such an exercise he accomplished something
that few artists would ever achieve. For by positioning himself within
his studies of Christ's life, as a man in need of rescue and redemption,
he was able to apprehend a deep perspective of the true nature of Christ's
message, and appeal for humanity to lay down its burdens of guilt and
suffering. |
 The Prodigal Son |
 The Good Samaritan |
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The
Good Samaritan and
the Prodigal Son, the two dominant parables of Jesus, were
themes to which he specifically returned time and again, as his numerous
illustrations demonstrate. In each of his works devoted to this study,
he moved beyond a formal artistic representation of the parable, probing
instead his own understanding of the message and how this message
related to the common man. Determined repetition, for example, drove
Rembrandt to depict how the Good Samaritan took pity on the anonymous
traveler attacked by robbers. The idea of failure, despair, and ultimate
redemption, became one of his favorite themes; and this theme formed
an unbroken thread of continuity between his work in oil, and pen
and wash.
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