Tag: Free subjects
Diana at the bath
In this etching, as well as in Naked woman seated on a mound (B198), Rembrandt may have worked with a dressed model, since the shape of the belly and the absence of a clear abdomen are not in line with reality, as Sluiter points out. Yet, this picture is definitely considered to be a natural one and as such quite revolutionary. This also counts for the way the woman looks at the observer. Conventional pictures show the woman averting her look.
Woman at the bath, with a hat beside her
There has been much debate whether the model in this etching, one of four female nudes Rembrandt etched in 1658, is his then fiancée Hendrickje Stoffels. Hinterding has suggested that Rembrandt may have joined his former pupils Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck. They have made several pictures of nude models in the same year. In Röver’s inventory of 1731 the print was referred to as 2 zittende naakte Vrouwtjes naar ‘t leven (two sitting nude women from life) in combination with Woman bathing her feet at a brook (B200). In the de Burgy sale of 1755 it was listed as De naakte Joodse bruid (The naked Jewish bride). It is not clear whom this title referred to.
Woman sitting half-dressed beside a stove
Of this rather large etching Rembrandt has produced various states. Houbraken already noted that he has probably made the changes with the intention to sell the various states to contemporary collector’s. Houbraken assumed that these changes were in fact made by his son Titus. He called the print ‘t vrouwtje bij de kachel met en zonder ‘t witte mutsje. (woman beside a stove, with and without a white cap). Similar titles were used in the inventory of Röver (1731) and by van Huls (1735) and De Burgy (1755).
Nude man seated with one leg extended
Initially, in the inventory of Clement de Jonghe in 1679, this print was called Leggende naackte ruster (lying nude, resting) and somewhat later Een zittend naakt Mannetje met een extra lang been (a sitting nude man with an very long leg). It is one of the three studies of nude men Rembrandt made in 1646.
The Bathers
According to Schwartz this is one of the most spontaneous prints by Rembrandt. Several authors suggested that the plate was drawn in the air and was in fact never completely finished. The trees, the bank and the flowing river are drawn with only a minimum number of lines and without shading, as if everything is bathing in sunlight. The swimmers are also lightly etched, but in full contours. The effect of a warm summer’s day is strengthened when Rembrandt used yellowish Japanese paper for the printing.
Male nude, seated and standing (Het rolwagentje)
This etching was made in the same year that Rembrandt made two other nudes, B193 and B196. It is clearly a study of the male nude, showing the same model twice, but in different positions. This ‘learning’ element is also the reason that a charming group of mother and child is pictured in the background. As Jan Emmens pointed out in 1968, learning a baby to walk was a common metaphor for learning in general. It also gave the etching the nickname De Rolwagen (the walking frame), as early as 1731 (Valerius Röver’s inventory).
Nude man seated before a curtain
Gersaint stated that this plate was called The prodigal son in Holland.
Reclining female nude
This print is part of the four etchings Rembrandt made in 1658 of nude women. It is traditionally referred to as depicting a sleeping woman. In the inventory list of Valerius Röver it is called het slapende vrouwtje and in the de Burgy sales catalogue (1755) even as Een naakt slaapend vrouwtje, leggende met de billen bloot (A nude sleeping woman, lying with her buttocks naked). Then Bartsch suggested that it was in fact a dark skinned woman, calling it Negress lying down. Recently, partially based on the lighter versions of the 1st state, this assumption has been disputed and the original title has been restored.