willbelysy

@willbelysy1672679627 · 26 Oct 2021

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Rembrandt and the portrait in Amsterdam, 1590-1670

Rembrandt is undoubtedly the most important Dutch painter of the 17th century. While most artists of his time specialized in a particular genre, he excelled in numerous fields, and not only as a painter, but also as a draftsman and engraver. The genre of portraiture was one of them and, despite having reached the highest level as in the others, never until now had an exhibition dedicated exclusively to his role as a portraitist.

A varied clientele

But Rembrandt was not alone nor was he an isolated genius. In Amsterdam there was a large group of portraitists responding to high market demand. His talent was able to flourish thanks to the rise of the Dutch economy, which enriched many people: former families of the city, skilled immigrants from other localities or countries and, of course, to the city itself. Its inhabitants needed adequate housing and civic organizations were representative meeting places. In this way, portraits became a necessity for anyone who had enough wall space and longed to be remembered.



The renewal of a genre

Since its inception in Amsterdam in the early 1630s, Rembrandt gave its models an unusual freedom of movement. Like Frans Hals in Haarlem, Rembrandt broke new ground in Amsterdam, immortalizing his clients in dynamic poses that suggested interaction with the viewer and incorporating aspects that he had already developed into his mythological, religious or history scenes, such as narrative qualities, the use of chiaroscuro or representation of human emotions. Over the years he increasingly focused on the essential features of his models, especially the faces. His energetic brushstrokes, especially in his last period, loaded with pictorial matter have led him to speculate on the artistic objectives of the painter, who seemed to be more interested in the representation of characters than in the physical resemblance of the portrayed. In this mysterious quality lies the secret of the attraction that his portraits exert today, even 350 years later, on the audience watching them.