An Introduction to Rembrandt [antikvár]

Introduction Not another book on Rembrandt! How can I excuse myself? It is simply the overflow of an admiration for his art, and a love for his character, which is revealed in all his graphic art, that first occupied my mind when I was a child, and is still growing and expanding. I copied his drawings and etchings when I went to school, and have been lecturing about him for almost fifty years. Mr Berenson, when I gave him my book about Piero della Francesca, paid me a left-handed compliment. 'Rembrandt', he said, 'is the only artist you really understand'; and perhaps the honour that has touched me the most deeply in my life is that in 1969 the Dutch invited me to give the Commemorative Speech in the Rijksmuseum on the three-hundredth anniversary of Rembrandt's death. All this emboldened me to publish a book called Rembrandt and the Italian Renaissance, which was based on the Wrightsman Lectures for 1964. It was too much of a thesis for the general reader and, since Rembrandt scholarship is very much the monopoly of the Dutch, and is most of it written in the Dutch language, which I read with difficulty, it was rather coolly received by Rembrandt scholars. Nevertheless, I believe that it contains a few paragraphs of description and criticism that are worth preserving, and some of them reappear in the pages that follow. The present book is based on a series of television programmes which I made for the Ashwood Trust. This Trust was established in order to encourage interest in the arts in schools and universities. I have therefore avoided scholarly discussions, but this does not mean that I am unaware of them. The book is illustrated entirely in black and white. Rembrandt's colour is often beautiful and significant, but it is exceptionally difficult to reproduce satisfactorily. Moreover, the aim of my book is to examine his work in the light of his feelings, his thoughts and his beliefs, and these are expressed most freely in his etchings and drawings. I must record my warmest thanks to Mr Charles B. Wrightsman, and to the Institute of Fine Art in New York University, who have generously allowed me to include in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 a few quotations from my earlier book. I am particularly indebted to two Dutch scholars. Professor Seymour Slive, and Dr Bob Haak. The latter