Rembrandt was THE quintessential Baroque artist of his day. His undeniable masterful command/control of the what I call the 4 C's: Complex emotions, Chiaroscuro, Caravaggio, and Compassion (for his art and mankind).
In a letter to Huyghens, Rembrandt offered the only surviving explanation of what he sought to achieve through his art: "The greatest and most natural movement.", translated from "die meeste ende di naetuereelste beweechgelickheijt." The word "beweechgelickhijt" is also argued to mean "emotion" or "motive."
Above, I have chosen works that I believe to be good examples which exemplifies his command for the 4'C's.
Examples 1-3: Note how Rembrandt is able to draw the spectators eye to an area (here, the arm) to convey emotion as well as motive (i.e., praying with the hands, a servant arm who is holding a broom, and third, the act of love and trust between a man and woman). It's interesting that with these three examples Rembrandt chose the same antomical body part as an accent, by way of light, more so than the subjects themselves.
Examples 4 and 5, show Rembrandt's skill in conveying FEELING through gesture, expression, and Chiaroscuro--even with the ABSENCE of color. Pretty remarkable!
The final example, The Oriental, typifies the Baroque style simply by capturing the "attitude" of his subject by way of costume (turban), facial expression (confidence, indifference), and poise (distinguished). And, for good measure, he again uses light to convey one's attention to the turban NOT the man himself!
Die meeste ende di naetuereelste beweechgelickheijt!
Janine,
ReplyDeleteOver and over it's all about following the light in these Baroque paintings. And the light is actually an absence of color or paint and it makes all the difference to drawing the eye to where the painter wants the viewer to look.
Chris
I like that your fourth "C" is compassion. I hadn't thought of that but looking the the images you show here I can see the artist likes the human subject and is exploring the lines of the body through inquisitiveness. He appears to be passionate about his subjects and compassionate for them.
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