The ultimate book on Rembrandt by Émile Michel

Author:Émile Michel [Michel, Émile]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Parkstone International

The Visitation, 1640. Oil on cedar, 56.5 x 47.9 cm. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit.

Holy Family, 1645. Oil on canvas, 117 x 91 cm. The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

The Holy Family or The Carpenter’s Household, 1640. Oil on wood, 41 x 34 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Christ and St Mary Magdalene at the Tomb, 1638. Oil on wood, 61 x 49.5 cm. Royal Collection Trust, London.

At the request of her four children, an inventory of her effects was taken prior to a division of the estate. This consisted of the house and adjoining land at Weddesteeg, several other houses, and a few outstanding debts, a garden, and a half-share in the mill at the White Gate. The net valuation amounted to 9,960 florins, the share for each child being 2,490 florins. Adriaen, with his sister Lysbeth as coadjutor, undertook the selling of the property. He was a debtor to the extent of some 1,600 florins to the estate, the administration of which necessitated a new deed of partition. To help Adriaen, Rembrandt accepted his inheritance in the form of an extended mortgage on the share of the mill. But being pressed for money, he gave his brother Willem a power of attorney to sell this mortgage. In spite of his habitual difficulties, he was the first of the family to repay to Adriaen his part of advances made by the latter on the property to be sold. Anxious to simplify matters as far as possible for his co-heirs, he agreed to their various proposals in the spirit of generous affection which marked all his dealings with his family.

After the death of his mother, Rembrandt naturally sought solace and distraction in his work and the affections that still remained to him. And, as may be readily imagined, seeing how intimate the union between his life and art had always been, his works of this period faithfully reflect the thoughts that filled his mind. The subjects that attracted him are all closely allied to his most intimate musings. They are chiefly scenes of family life, in which he seeks to express, even more deeply than before, the joys dearer to him than ever now that his mother’s death and Saskia’s failing health made him understand their impermanence. The Carpenter’s Household, signed and dated 1640, is one of the best among the small pictures painted by Rembrandt at this date. The composition is extremely simple. A young woman, whose sweet, dignified face is seen in profile, is seated beside a cradle, suckling a child, whom the old grandmother turns from her book to caress. The father planes a board near the high window to the left. Around these four figures, in an interior which serves the double purpose of workshop and living room, are ranged the tools and utensils of their modest home. A cat purrs contentedly at a little distance from the group. Outside, the sprays of the vine that cluster about the open window are set against a deep-blue sky, and the sunshine pours gaily into the room, falling directly on the mother and child.

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