I remember Rembrandt (vaguely)
A quadracentennial Rembrandt relapse, second of three parts
A little more biography, then, but first, the painting above. “Belshazzar’s Feast” from 1635 was Rembrandt trying to get on the A-list of baroque historian-artists who did mammoth canvases, and he really went for it.
From the Book of Daniel he pulled the moment when the King of Babylon adds the fatal last straw to his bulging hoard of sins by drinking wine from the cups stolen from Jerusalem’s temple. The writing is on the wall, and though Rembrandt inscribed the Hebrew in columns rather than right to left, likely in a comment on its age and its indecipherability to all but the prophet Daniel, the message was clear: “Get out of town by sundown.” Belshazzar did better than that: He was murdered within hours.
With Caravaggio’s dramatic lighting effects and a passionate cha-cha of chiaroscuro, Rembrandt clad his operatic cast in anachronistic but sublimely rendered togs, every gem and tassel a subtle craftwork. And rarely do you find him so flamboyant in his facial expressions.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on July 15, 400 years ago, in Leiden. Unless you’re Dutch it’s a funny middle name, but a fun one, and anyway his dad’s was Gerritszoon, and mom was Neeltje van Suijttbroeck, so it was family of sound effects, and he painted them often. See the rest.
