Arti­cle Rembrandt and His Circle

Focus on the Peck Feature

2019 marks the 350th anniver­sary of Rem­brandt van Rijn’s death (1606-1669), an event cel­e­brat­ed through exhi­bi­tions and pro­grams world­wide. The Ackland’s con­tri­bu­tion to these fes­tiv­i­ties is a Focus on the Peck Col­lec­tion instal­la­tion fea­tur­ing three draw­ings — one cre­at­ed by Rem­brandt, one made by a stu­dent with Rembrandt’s cor­rec­tions, and one pro­duced by an unknown fol­low­er — that demon­strate both Rembrandt’s skill as a drafts­man and teacher and dis­tin­guish his draw­ing style from that of his circle.

One of the glo­ries of the Peck Col­lec­tion at the Ack­land are the seven draw­ings by Rem­brandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669), the great­est artist of the Dutch Gold­en Age. 2019 marks the 350th anniver­sary of the artist’s death, an event cel­e­brat­ed through exhi­bi­tions and pro­grams world­wide. The Ackland’s first con­tri­bu­tion to these fes­tiv­i­ties is this instal­la­tion of three draw­ings — one cre­at­ed by Rem­brandt, one made by a stu­dent with Rembrandt’s cor­rec­tions, and one pro­duced by an unknown follower.

Draw­ing formed an inte­gral part of Rembrandt’s artis­tic prac­tice, allow­ing him to refine his skills, to work out com­po­si­tions, and to record inter­est­ing motifs. Draw­ing also served as a key com­po­nent of Rembrandt’s teach­ing process. His numer­ous pupils and assis­tants learned to imi­tate their master’s style and tech­nique by copy­ing Rembrandt’s draw­ings and by gen­er­at­ing adap­ta­tions of his exist­ing com­po­si­tions. As a result, Rem­brandt and his cir­cle cre­at­ed thou­sands of draw­ings, many of which have sur­vived. Out of this vast num­ber, only a small per­cent­age bear Rembrandt’s sig­na­ture or his hand­writ­ten inscrip­tions, mak­ing the task of dis­tin­guish­ing Rembrandt’s draw­ings from those of his skilled stu­dents and imi­ta­tors an ongo­ing pur­suit among scholars. 

This Focus on the Peck Col­lec­tion instal­la­tion invites atten­tion to these attri­bu­tion ques­tions. Con­sid­er the tech­nique and style of each of the works and see if you can dis­cern Rembrandt’s man­ner of draw­ing from that of his followers?

A Seat­ed Old Man Warm­ing his Hands by a Fire

Rem­brandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606 – 1669, A Seat­ed Old Man Warm­ing his Hands by a Fire, c. 1650, pen and brown ink with white gouache. The Peck Col­lec­tion, 2017.1.66

See A Seat­ed Old Man Warm­ing his Hands by a Fire in more detail here. 

Rembrandt’s draw­ing of an old man warm­ing him­self by the fire, demon­strates his use of lead-white wash to edit his work. Dis­sat­is­fied with the first ren­di­tion of the figure’s hands low against his lap, Rem­brandt amend­ed his sketch so they appear high­er. The white over­lay now looks cloudy from oxidation.

The Sup­per at Emmaus

Con­stan­ti­jn van Renesse, Dutch, 1626 – 1680, retouched by Rem­brandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606 – 1669, The Sup­per at Emmaus, c. 1650-52, pen and black ink, brown and gray wash, over black and red chalk. The Peck Col­lec­tion, 2017.1.69

See The Sup­per at Emmaus in more detail here.

Rem­brandt also edit­ed his pupil’s works. In Con­stan­ti­jn van Renesse’s draw­ing of Christ’s post-res­ur­rec­tion inter­ac­tion with his fol­low­ers, in the cen­ter, Rem­brandt added quick pen strokes to sharp­en Jesus’s fea­tures, length­en his hair and beard, short­en his torso, and change his arm position. 

Hagar and Ish­mael, copy after Rem­brandt’s Hagar and Ish­mael in the Wilderness

after Rem­brandt van Rijn, Dutch, 17th cen­tu­ry, Hagar and Ish­mael, copy after Rem­brandt’s Hagar and Ish­mael in the Wilder­ness, 1630s, pen and brown ink over graphite. Gift of Leena and Shel­don Peck in mem­o­ry of Sylvia and Max A. Peck, 94.7

See Hagar and Ish­mael, copy after Rem­brandt’s Hagar and Ish­mael in the Wilder­ness in more detail here. 

Draw­ing was an inte­gral part of Dutch sev­en­teenth-cen­tu­ry work­shop prac­tice and the bib­li­cal sub­ject of Hagar and her son Ish­mael in the wilder­ness was a fre­quent­ly illus­trat­ed sub­ject by Rem­brandt and his pupils. In the draw­ing above, the pres­ence of an under­draw­ing, com­bined with the anatom­i­cal uncer­tain­ty and uncon­vinc­ing sug­ges­tion of space, indi­cate this draw­ing was cre­at­ed by some­one attempt­ing to emu­late Rembrandt’s style. 

26 April 2019 — 21 July 2019

Related artworks