Rembrandt and Amsterdam portraiture, 1590-1670

With the support of: With the collaboration of: Text With the exclusive collaboration of: Text "Rembrandt and Amsterdam Portraiture, 1590−1670" provides a broad survey of the portrait genere in Amsterdam during the seventeenth century through the famous Dutch painter, around whom the exhibition revolves. The careful selection of works gives an idea of what portraits were like before Rembrandt (1606−1669) moved from his native Leiden to a city that offered greater market potential. The innovations he adopted – which were continued by his followers, imitators, and most direct rivals – the evolution of his painting, and the turn taken by the genre in the 1650s are the subject of the exhibition. Text The exhibition Sections Text Text TRADITION AND INNOVATION Although portraiture of the early seventeenth century was firmly rooted in artistic tradition, novel features were gradually incorporated. Around 1600, artists such as brothers Pieter and Aert Pietersz and Cornelis Ketel explored three-quarter-length portraits with architectural backgrounds in which importance was attached to a few highly expressive details, such as the hands. This first room includes good examples of the type of people visitors will find portrayed as they walk round: not so much nobles and church authorities as merchants, members of the city’s elite and bourgeois families, artists, and governors of institutions. Some are depicted alone and others in groups, as in Frans Badens’s "Civic Guardsmen from the Company of Captain Arent ten Grootenhuys and Lieutenant Jacob Florisz Cloeck" (1608), which has been hung in the Museum’s entrance hall due to its large size. Badens’s portrait of Gerard Reynst (1613) is also noteworthy. Text Four painters stand out among Rembrandt’s direct predecessors: Cornelis van der Voort, Werner van den Valckert, Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy, and Thomas de Keyser. Van der Voort brought novelties to the genre which included portraying his clients with a more natural appearance, as can be seen in his "Governors of the Hospitals" (1617) or the likeness of Margaretha Vos (about 1621). Van den Valckert was an innovator who introduced portraits historiés (historicized portraits) with well-balanced compositions. This type of representation, illustrated by his "Family Portrait as an Allegory on Caritas, with a Self-Portrait of the Artist" (1623), is also found in the repertoire of Claes Moyaert. Pickenoy, drawing on tradition, employed touches of very refined brushwork in his paintings to create chiaroscuro effects, which he combined with a careful study of the sitter’s pose. De Keyser’s success stemmed from the attention he paid to his figures in relation to the surrounding space and the harmony between them. a new generation Text REMBRANDT'S EARLY PORTRAITS Text Rembrandt arrived in Amsterdam in 1631. During his initial years there, the painter and dealer Hendrick Uylenburgh played an essential role in introducing him to the art market and social circles. Rembrandt’s earliest portraits reflect the knowledge and achievements of his forerunners in the profession, such as Werner van den Valckert, from whom he borrowed – and transformed – a few devices, combining them with others of his own invention, such as the movement or action in which his sitters are engaged. The compositionalunity and coherence of these early Amsterdam pictures earned him great success. These novelties – for example, a subject’s turned head and interrupted activity – can be seen in works such as "Portrait of a Man at a Writing Desk" (1631), in the gently twisted body of the "Portrait of a Young Gentleman" (1633−34), and in the postures of the woman who is possibly his sister Elisabeth van Rijn. This room also displays a few examples of "tronies", such as he "Bust of an Old Man in Fanciful Costume" (1635). This typically Dutch form of representation, which was not a portrait as such but the depiction of a type, developed into an artistic genre in its own right. Text Text rembrandt and his competitors Text Text Rembrandt established himself in Amsterdam at a time when the city had a large group of portrait painters who benefited from the rising and increasingly discerning demand for these works as a result of the city’s thriving economy and growing art market. One of Rembrandt’s most famous rivals during these early years was Frans Hals, who was based in Haarlem but received important commissions from Amsterdam. Hals was a superb portraitist who captured his models in casual, highly natural poses. This section includes too an example of a child portrait executed from a bold viewpoint by Jacob Backer. Dirck Santvoort is represented by two group portraits, the magnificent "Governesses and Wardresses of the Spinhuis" (1638) and the "Portrait of a Boy" possibly identified as Jan van Loon (1636). Finally, the room features works by the German Joachim von Sandrart, one of the foreign artists who tried their fortune in the flourishing Amsterdam. Text Text Rembrandt’s production of portraits and other types of paintings dwindled considerably in the 1640s. These were hard times for the artist, as his wife Saskia died in 1642 and towards the end of the decade he ended up in court over his relationship with Geertje Dircks, a household servant. Also in 1642, however, he completed one of the crowning achievements of universal painting, the "Night Watch". Other young artists began rising to prominence on the scene and adopted novel formulas that heralded a shift in tastes. One was Govert Flinck, whose paintings are more vividly colored and display the influence of Anthony van Dyck; another was Rembrandt’s pupil Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, whose initial echoes of his master’s teachings gave way to new stylistic approaches. Around this time a fashion emerged for smallformat portraits showing clients in everyday scenes, such as the "Surgeon Jacob Fransz and his Family" (1669) by Egbert van Heemskerck. A CHANGE OF STYLE Text Text From 1640 onwards the portrait market was dominated by painters such as Bartholomeus van der Helst, Ferdinand Bol, and Govert Flinck, who paid close attention to pose and depicted their sitters in carefully arranged settings, as illustrated by Bol’s portrait of Frederick Sluysken (1652). Further examples are Van der Helst’s "Portrait of a Man with Documents" (about 1655), restored specially for the exhibition, and "Headmen of the Arquebusiers’ Civic Guard House" (1655), which display a gently balanced lighting and striking colors. During those years the portraitists of Amsterdam sought inspiration in models from other parts of Europe and achieved elegant and refined results. Rembrandt reacted to the market changes in an absolutely personal manner, applying to his works what has been called his ‘rough manner’ – hitherto reserved for "tronies" – for which he was hailed as a celebrity outside his native country. The pair of portraits in Washington, dated to around 1654−55, is an excellent example from this period. Text DIVERGING PATHS Text Text Portraiture in Amsterdam underwent a major change in the 1660s and 1670s owing to the success of certain imported trends, as illustrated by the pictures in this section, where the refined poses, clothing, and gestures of the sitters – merchants or dignitaries – are consonant with European courtly tastes. These new developments are perfectly embodied by the paintings of Jacob van Loo, Jürgen Ovens, and Karel Dujardin. In this final stage of his career, Rembrandt nevertheless remained faithful to a style in which shadows and dark and contrasting tones are predominant and where the figures are constructed from brushstrokes loaded with thick, viscous paint that imbue the whole work with expressiveness. The portraits of his son Titus, "Young Man in a Black Beret" (about 1662), and the mythological scene of "Venus and Cupid" (about 1657) – for which he is assumed to have used his partner Hendrickje Stoffels and their daughter Cornelia as models – are shrouded in a matchless warmth. Text rembrandt and his competitors: final years Text Text Text Throughout his artistic career, in parallel to his work as a painter, Rembrandt was extremely active as a printmaker and made many portraits of members of his closest circle, such as his relatives and friends. Notable among them is the superb etching of Jan Six (1647), which illustrates the mastery he achieved in the gradation of grays. The "Self-Portrait" (1639) showing the artist with his arm leaning on a stone sill recalls a typical Italian Renaissance portrait. An oil sketch and etching of the calligrapher Lieven Willemsz Coppenol have been chosen to illustrate his working methods, together with his etching plate and print of the print dealer Clement de Jonghe. To bring the show to a close, this room includes the impressive surviving fragment of Rembrandt’s "Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Jan Deijman" (1656), whose original composition is known through a drawing. REMBRANDT: ETCHED PORTRAITS Text RELATED CONTENT Virtual visit, activities and Social media Text Text INTRODUCTORY VIDEO VIRTUAL VISIT Text Temporary exhibition focus: "Rembrandt and the Portrait in Amsterdam, 1590 - 1670" Text ACTIVITIES Face to face with the portrait in the age of Rembrandt Text SOCIAL MEDIA Text Text Text Text Text Text CATALOGUE Text Texts of: Norbert Middelkoop, Dolores Delgado, Claire van den Donk, Sebastien Dudok van Heel, Rudi Ekkart, Maarten Hell, Patrick Larsen, Charles MacKay, Volker Manuth, Tom van der Molen, Judith Noormann, Leonore van Sloten and Marieke de Winkel Hard cover: €36.10 Languages: Spanish and English 264 pages Dimensions: 24 x 27 cm (High x wide) Paperback: €30.40 13 x 18 cm Authors: Begoña de la Riva España and María Ángeles Rodríguez Cutillas Language: Spanish TEACHING GUIDE How was Amsterdam in the 17th century? How does it relate to the world we live in today? Based on these questions, the teaching guide "Rembrandt and Amsterdam portraiture, 1590- 1670" invites you to learn about the nine chapters of the exhibition RRP: €5.70 56 pages Text INFORMATION AND CREDITS Visitor services Telephone: (+34) 917 911 370 Email: cavthyssen@museothyssen.org The exhibition has resting benches in the last rooms Photographs are allowed except for some works Audio guide service Available in Spanish, English, French and Italian Opening hours Tuesdays to Sundays, 10.00 to 19.00 Saturdays, 10.00 to 21.00 Closed on Mondays and 1 May.  Limited capacity with hourly pass every 15 minutes Ticket office open up to 30 minutes before closing  Visitors are asked to leave the galleries 5 minutes before closing 18 May, International Day of Museums, free access, from 10.00 to 19.00 Transport Subway station: Banco de España Buses: 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 20, 27, 34, 37, 45, 51, 52, 53, 74, 146, 150 Train stations: Atocha, Sol and Recoletos PRACTICAL INFORMATION Dates February 18 to May 24, 2020 Organiser Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza Paseo del Prado, 8 - 28014, Madrid mtb@museothyssen.org Single ticket It's available to visit in the same day, all museum, including temporary exhibitions Standard tickets: €13.00 Group ticket (7 or more people): €11.00 Reduced price ticket: €9.00 TICKET PRICES More information Title: "Rembrandt and Amsterdam portraiture, 1590-1670" Publications: Catalogue with texts by Norbert E. Middelkoop, Dolores Delgado, Maerten Hell, Rudi Ekkart, Claire van den Donk and other authors. Explanatory guide.   Venue and dates: Madrid, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, 18 February to 24 May 2020.   EXHIBITION FACTSHEET Technical curator: Dolores Delgado Peña, Curator of Old Master Painting at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza   Number of works: 97 (80 paintings, 16 prints y 1 copperplate)   With the collaboration of the Comunidad de Madrid and with the support of JTI   Text Curator: Norbert Middelkoop, Curator at the Amsterdam Museum Organiser: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza Text Credits and legal disclaimers © Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid All the content featured in this application is protected by copyright and may not be produced without the previous authorisation of its respective owners. The works of art that have been reproduced are also protected by copyright and it is forbidden to reproduce them wholly or in part CREDITS Editorial cordinator IT Area, Web and New Media Department of Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza Cover image Rembrandt "Portrait of a Man, probably Herman Auxbrebis" Oil on canvas, 99.5 × 82.5 © Washington, National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection    Text