Painters From The Netherlands

"Above all the popular attracted him [Rembrandt], and in the squares, in the suburbs, the workers and the countryfolk appeared to him wearthy of attention.. ..their expressive gestures become more frankly marked, their attitude and their expressions are more natural... Rembrandt never stopped studying them. He loved living among the poor."

"Rembrandt is so deeply mysterious that he says things for which there are no words in any language. Rembrandt is truly called a magician... that's not an easy calling."

"There is something of Rembrandt in the Gospel, or something of the Gospel in Rembrandt, as you like it — it comes to the same, if one only understands the thing in the right way."

"What an infinitely sympathetic painting. This is the essence of Rembrandt's genius. It's his sympathy for humankind which makes his art eternal."

"Would you believe it – and I honestly mean what I say – I should be happy to give ten years of my life if I could go on sitting here in front of this picture [Rembrandt's 'Jewish Bride'] for a fortnight, with only a crust of dry bread for food?"

"Rembrandt printed himself. We have known this without a doubt since Doctor Scheltema, the wise archivist in Amsterdam, found in the archives in this city and published the inventory of all that was recorded in Rembrandt's house [location: Jodenbreestraat, Amsterdam] when it was seized in 1656 to be sold by the Chamber of Insolvents. We encounter scattered here and there all the trappings of a printmaker-printer: 'In the room behind the antechamber: a small oak-table, four lampshades; an oak press. In the room behind the livingroom: a press of marbelized yellow wood'."

"This print speaks [the 'Hundred Guilder Print', a famous etching of Rembrandt], the shadow is vaporous like an autumn day and the figures are animated with a breath of air.. ..it summarizes everything, sentiment, order, moral, light and painting. If I looked at it an entire day, I would be dazzled and almost frightened by Rembrandt's genius.. [Rousseau ended up the talk paying 8.000 francs for the print]"

"The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen."

"Of the old etchers, Rembrandt, as all acknowledge, is the sovereign prince."

"Rembrandt was also fond of this subject from the story of Tobias [and the Angel of which he painted various scenes in an informal style, which recalls a little the peasant-like style of M. Millet.. ..For two centuries, the exclusive amateurs of the grand Italian style have always manhandled Rembrandt, which have not prevented him from making inroads in the museums.. ..of Europe, This should console the realists [a. o. Millet a bit fort the current injustices and give them some hope for the future."

"He [Rembrandt] introduced a new ideal, not the ideal of forms, but the ideal of clair-obscur, not the ideal of beauty, but the ideal of expression."

"You speak to me of Rembrand, of this famous, of this great, of this giant.. .I would very much like to see the painting by Rembrandt of which you speak, because it should be quiete splendid. I eat it up from here (you know the fashionable phrase)"

"I have a memory above all of a small landscape by Rembrandt with this inscription 'Tacet sed loquitur', which made such an impression on me in my childhood."

"I am very sure that if Rembrandt had held himself down to his studio practice (drawing every figure nude before putting clothing on them) he would not have either that power of pantomime nor that power over effects which makes his scenes so genuinely the expression of nature.. ..the further I go on in life the more I feel within me that truth is what is most beautiful, and most rare.. ..[this] is to be found again in Rembrandt's mysterious conception of his subjects, in the deep naturalness of expressions and of gestures."

"Perhaps we shall one day find that Rembrandt is a greater painter than Raphael. I write down this blasphemy which will cause the hair of the school-men to stand on end without taking sides."

"Rembrandt the Thinker."

"I have likewise made many 'skies' and effects - for I wish it could be said of me as Fuselli says of Rembrandt: 'he followed nature in her calmest abodes and could pluck a flower on every hedge — yet he was born to cast a steadfast eye on the bolder phenomena of nature'."

"I have had three masters, Nature, Velázquez, and Rembrandt."

"Works produced in an accidental manner [as Rembrandt did, according to Reynolds] will have the same free, unrestrained air as works of nature, whose particular combinations seems to depend upon accident."

"He only lived with the lower class and people much below himself.. .He looked to nature as the only one capable of teaching him. He chose no other studio for his studies than his father's windmill."

"[that because] Rembrandt's manner was so generally praised, everything had to be based on it [so that] to please the World he (Govert Flinck) found it advisable to go and learn from Rembrandt for a year, where he became accustomed to that handling and manner of painting.. ..It was the mark of Flinck's talent that after only this brief time his own work was taken and sold as the rue brushwork of Rembrandt."

"[that Rembrandt] tugged people away who peered to closely at his pictures when visiting his studio saying: 'The smell of the paint would bother you'."

"He [Rembrandt] was not to be dissuaded from this practice, saying in justification that a work is finished when the master has achieved his intention in it."

"Dutch original text: Vele jaren agter den anderen heeft hy het met schilderen zoo druk gehad dat de menschen lang naar hunne stukken moesten wagten, niettegenstaande dat hy met zyn werk vaardig voortging, inzonderheid in zyn laatsten tyd, toen het 'er, van na by bezien, uitzag of het met een Metzelaars truffel was aangesmeert..."

"He [Rembrandt] had been so busy painting continuously over so many years that people had to wait some considerable time for their paintings, in spite of the fact that he continued working dexterously, particularly in his later period when, seen close to, it looked as though the paint had been smeared on with a bricklayers trowel.."

"With regard to art he [Rembrandt] was rich with ideas, so that you frequently see him making a great number of different sketches of one and the same object, full also of changes in the figures and poses as well as the arrangement of the clothing; for which he is to be praised above all others – especially above those who employ such figures and clothing in their work as if they were twins."

"He had an excellent Disposition for Painting. His Vein was fruitful, and his Thoughts fine and lively. But having suck'd in, with his Milk, the bad Taste of his Country, and aiming at nothing beyond a faithful Imitation of the living (heavy) Nature, which he had always before his Eyes, he form'd a Manner entirely new, and peculiar to himself. He prepar'd his Ground with a Lay of fiich(?) friendly Colours as united, and came nearest to the Life. Upon this he touch'd in his Virgin Tints (each in its proper Place) rough , and as little disturb'd by the Pencil, as possible: And with great Masses of Lights and Shadows rounding off his Figures, gave them a Force and Freshness, that was very surprising."

"Dutch original text: En Rembrandt, die den nagt verbeelde te figuurlijk. In zijnen duisteren grond."

"And Rembrandt, imaging the night too figuratively; in its bottom, full of darkness."

"I will not deny that I used to have a particular weakness for his [Rembrandt's] manner. But this was before I began to be aware of the infallible rules of painting. I later found myself obliged to concede my mistake and reject his art as based on nothing more than insubstantial imaginings."

"I therefore advise you not to put too many lights and shadows together, but to arrange them cleverly in groups. Allow your brightest lights subtly flow into the not so bright lights. I can assure you that they will light up all the more. Always surround your deepest and darkest areas with a clear brown, this way they will allow the light to brighten in strength and intensity. Rembrandt has used this virtue to great effect and he was expert in bringing together related colours."

"The shadows cast in the house by sun shining inside are like those out of doors, except that they appear stronger and are more defined by a window or a door. Albrecht Dürer really enjoyed sun shining into a room in his 'Hieronymus in the Room' [https://www.Rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-OB-1224.. .Our own Rembrandt concerned himself in an amazing way with sunlight reflections. It seems as though he is really in his element when reflecting any light whatsoever. If only he had understood the basic rules of this art a little better. Because those who only trust their own eyes and delusional experiences, often make mistakes that earn the derisive remarks from pupils, not to mention the masters."

"But the empty spaces [in the painting] devoid of all shine or reflection we put in the fifth and last grade, and see them as identical to the black, the deepest colour [tone]. This remark will make us careful not to try and go further than the ability of our paint/colour allows. Because, if we go too far in height we will lack at the bottom of the picture [from light gradations: light to dark]. Such as will happen to those who, when painting a picture of the night, place a burning torch or candle in the foreground. They then no longer have the possibility of giving the rest of the painting clarity. As far as he was able, Rembrandt painted the strength of candlelight in a few brown prints, but when one covers the light the rest of the work remains dark because we tend to hold our hand up to the light, so that this does not obstruct our ability to differentiate everything clearly and vividly."

"[[w:Karel van Mander|[Karel] Van Mander]] says that a certain Jaques de Bakker in Antwerp first introduced the fleshy way of painting, by not painting only with white, but by heightening the colour/paint with a natural physicality. Certainly, his namesake Jaques de Bakker from Amsterdam followed him in this commendable observation.. ..Not to mention Rembrandt and the others Aert de Gelder in particular, Rembrandt's last pupil], who highly valued this aspect of art."

"In a nicely set up little work by Rembrandt of 'John the Baptist preaching', I can remember seeing a wonderful attention in (the faces) of the listeners, in all sorts of positions, this was really praiseworthy. But one could also see how a dog indecently jumps on a bitch. You can say that this happens and is normal, but I say this is an abominable impropriety in this story. But I want to state here that this scene belongs more to a preaching by the dog-like Diogenes than by John the Baptist.. .Pictures like this serve to illustrate the stupidity of the Master and become even more ridiculous as they drift into ever more trivial additions."

"Rembrandt has observed this requirement [of unity] in 'The Night Watch' / 'De Nachtwacht' very well.. ..though in the opinion of many [17th century critics] he went too far, making more of the overall picture according to his individual preference, than of the individual portraits he was commissioned to do. Nonetheless, the painting, no matter how much it is criticized, will, in my opinion, survive all its rivals because it is so painterly [schilderachtigh] in conception and so powerful that, according to some people, all the other pieces [c. 4 other paintings] in De Doelen [in Amsterdam] look like playing cards alongside it. Although I would have liked that he had put more light in the painting."

"[an artist should paint] with a bold hand, but not like Rembrandt or Jan Lievens, whose colors run down the piece like dung.. ..an artist should evenly and lushly.. ..[so that] your subjects appear rounded and raised by Art alone, and not by daubing."

"[Rembrandt's habit of taking] a washerwoman or peat-trader from some barn [and] calling his whim the imitation of Nature and everything else decoration."

"the great Rembrandt.. ..the first heretic in painting.. .What a shame for the sake of art.. ..that so able a hand made no better use of his inborn gifts. But ah! The nobler the man, the wilder he'll become if he fails to tie himself to a rein of rule."

"..that the strong impasto was due to Rembrandt's slow way of painting and his habit of returning to the same passage over and over again, and that consequently the portrait commissions eventually stopped coming in."

"Sometimes I was so saddened by my master's [Rembrandt] hard instructions that I would not eat or drink and slake my thirst with my tears.."

"His engravings bear witness to his industry, and by its means he acquired affluence.. .If he had been more prudent in his relations with others, he would have become still wealthier. But although he was no spendthrift, he cared little for social rank, and was addicted to the society of humble folks, who interfered a good deal with his work."

"Rembrandt, the son of a miller, a pupil of Lastman, attained to a high degree of excellence in art through industry and natural gifts, although he never visited Italy and was but imperfectly developed.. .He sinned against the laws of anatomy, proportion, perspective, and the antique, as against Raphael's draftsmanship; and he warred also against academies and relied on nature."

"..a Leda or a Danae.. ..as a naked woman with swollen belly, hanging breasts and garter marks on the legs."

"[comparing] great painters [who] try to show a beautiful nude body in which one can see their knowledge of drawing [with] an incompetent [=Rembrandt] who tries to cover their figures with dark clumsy garments.. ..a kind of painter, who does the contours so that one does not know what to make out of it."

"On 4 October 1669 [my] cousin, Rembrant van Rhijn, painter died."

"..four flayed arms and legs anatomized by Vesalius.."

"Thursday 29 [December].. .His Highness [ Cosimo de' Medici ], after attending Mass, went with Blaeu and Ferroni to look at paintings by various masters, among them the designer Van Velde, Reinbrent [= Rembrandt] the famous painter, Scamus who does seascapes, and others who did not have finished paintings, so that we visited private homes where we could look at their works."

"O, Rembrand, although your diligence has painted de Dekker So artful that his soul seems to radiate from his countenance, 'Tis only the shadow of the bark that covered him; His pen was mightier than any brushwork It renders his very spirit, which casts a shadow longer Than his body, extending up to Heaven."

"My father engraves as well as anyone.. ..just the other day he engraved a curious woman with a pap pot \ pap-potgen \ that gave everyone a pleasant surprise."