Rembrandt: The Late Works Hardcover – December 16, 2014

That Rembrandt was brilliantly creative and imaginative throughout his career is a given, but this exhibition (at London's National Gallery from October 2014 to January 2015 and then at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam from February to May 2015) is devoted to the work from the last third of his life, i.e. roughly from 1650 to his death in 1669, and so it provides us with a unique opportunity to explore the apogee of his creative development. It is apparently the first exhibition to concentrate on the late work, and seen in this way, considered as a whole and examined in depth, that work reveals itself as startlingly inventive and innovative. To his contemporaries, Rembrandt's late work was already a bit old-fashioned; tastes had moved on from the "rough manner" of Titian and, more recently, of Frans Hals, to the brighter, more polished and more elegant style of the Flemish Baroque; Rubens had already been out of the picture since 1640, and Rembrandt's own students were now capturing commissions that were eluding their master. But the master's late work stands out all the more for that, and it is remarkable how often the essayists in this catalogue resort to words and expressions like "unorthodox," "unprecedented," "idiosyncratic," "transgressive," "highly unusual," "highly innovative," and even "radically innovative" to capture the uniqueness of his persistent artistic presence. Rather than fading away from ill health and adversity in old age, this "first heretic of painting" (71) increasingly asserted his creative individualism. That phenomenon is expertly discussed by the six contributors to the volume, all of whom are senior curators at either the Rijksmuseum or the National Gallery and widely recognized authorities on Dutch painting and graphic art.Their essays fall naturally into three major categories: the general conditions and circumstances of Rembrandt's later life and work; his techniques; and his themes and preoccupations. They deal with both quite broad topics (like the very notion of an "Altersstil" in general) and very specific matters (the changes in states of the etchings), and there is such a wealth and breadth of information that I can only point to a few of the things that struck me as particularly interesting. In the more general category, there is a fine discussion of the artist's notion of beauty, of what is "schilderachtig" (i.e., "picturesque" in the sense of worthy or deserving of being pictured), liberated from or unfettered by the classical notions of beauty; this is Rembrandt's "radical naturalism" (70) at work. The essay on "Emulation" treats not only Raphael and Titian; it is especially good on the artist's Dutch predecessors, especially Lucas van Leyden, the great graphic artist of the previous century, who was one of Rembrandt's lifelong preoccupations. Several writers address the notion that Rembrandt's particular techniques constitute the most distinctive and exciting aspect of his late work, whether in painting, etching, or drawing (each of which is treated in a separate essay). Distinctive features of his painting style are the thickly impasted surfaces ("sculpting with paint"; 143), scratching into the wet paint with a stylus or the butt end of the brush, and his pioneering use of the palette knife, which seems to have been his own invention and was used by him only in the late paintings (147). Even though Rembrandt had used some of those techniques earlier in his career, the point is made that his final years are still his most "experimental," because that is when he "employed his full arsenal of techniques for the first time" (151). The essay on the etchings contains a very good discussion of drypoint and Rembrandt's use of it to achieve tonal, almost painterly effects ("utterly novel"; 153), some of the methods he devised to prolong the useful life of a plate, providing "a completely new solution to the problem of wear" (159), and the various papers he printed on (some of which were quite exotic and expensive) and why he chose them. The final few essays are given over to examining what might be called the "interiority" of his late work: highly expressive and dramatic action, which was a constant feature of his early art, is toned down in favor of calmer and more muted representation that allows viewers to fill in more from their own imaginations and thus fosters a greater participation on our part. These essays are titled "Intimacy," "Contemplation," "Inner Conflict," and "Reconciliation," and they support their point by juxtaposing earlier and later versions of a couple of themes from the story of Joseph: Jempsar's attempt to seduce him in an etching of 1634 as opposed to a painting of 1655, and Jacob blessing Joseph's children in a c.1636 drawing vs. a painting from 1656. Some further topics are the late self-portraits and Rembrandt's special lighting effects; altogether there are fourteen essays, and I found every one of them to be informative and interesting--not a dull one in the whole group. In addition, they are very well written (i.e., the translations are perfectly smooth and colloquial), and although there is some Dutch terminology and some uncommon art-historical vocabulary, everything is well explained.An equally outstanding merit is the excellence of the illustrations. There are 123 exhibition items, and although many are reproduced less than full-page in size, the major ones are full-page, and the color of the paintings is excellently rendered. In addition, there are ninety-nine comparison illustrations and close to thirty single-page or double-page detailed blow-ups functioning as section frontispieces, some of which are quite dazzling. In combination, this all adds up to an unusually generously illustrated volume, with more imagery than text. It is on occasion irksome to locate a particular image referred to in a text, because both plates and illustrations are distributed throughout the volume without page references, but in the end the search is worth it: discussion and imagery are well coordinated, and the illustrations are appropriate and relevant. The scholarly apparatus includes a selected bibliography, a short illustrated chronology of the artist's life, an exhibition checklist with relevant curatorial data, and an index of names and titles. This is a volume completey accessible to the layman and interested amateur, but, given the expertise of its contributors, it is also of great scholarly value and an important contribution to the literature. Not to be missed by anyone interested in the Golden Age of Dutch art, and an obligatory acquisition for the Rembrandt aficionado. Very highly recommended.

Great book on REMBRANT treasures in National gallery in London. I love it!

If you're knowledgeable about Rembrandt's life and work, this book is a worthy addition to your library. The scholarly texts delve into the arcana of Rembrandt's most important late work. Some of it is a bit too specialized for even the well-informed lay reader. The reproductions are excellent.

This is a unique book on the work of Rembrandt. It is extremely well printed and the scholarly writing is the best.

Love this book! Great info and imagery.

great ,photos are high quality

I am very happy that I purchased this book. It is very well written and interesting.

very professional and reflects exhibition which we saw

Magnifique présentation des dernières oeuvres de Rembrandt. Textes savants et lisibles. Un seul petit problèeme : les renvois aux illustrations sont parfois difficiles à trouver (on n'indique pas toujours la page).

¡Una joya!. Espectacular las reproducciones de las obras. Muy fiel a la realidad. De lo mejor que he visto. Como si estuvieras viendo el cuadro. He echado de menos un mayor tamaño del libro, por disfrutarlo aún más y porque la excelente calidad del libro lo merece. Creo que cualquiera que lo vea detenidamente y deleitándose opinaría lo mismo: Este gran libro merece un mayor tamaño. De lo mejor. Totalmente recomendable. Lástima que no esté traducido al español. Pero solo la ilustración ya merece la pena de sobra. Que es lo que de verdad importa en un libro de arte; es mi opinión personal.

Stunningly beautiful book; well made and crammed with lovely pictures of great paintings. There are good essays too.Ordered it one day, it arrived the next.If you can't get this year's hot ticket, to the exhibition, buy the book.If you have got a ticket - please get me one. :)

Stunning photographs of Rembrandt's works.

Superb exhibition and superb catalogue. Essays are very thorough and comprehensive, well complemented by pictures (some to explain the point being made in the text)If you are a Rembrandt fan, this is a must have.