Stealing From Rembrandt

Rembrandt looked to the chiaroscuro tradition of Da Vinci and Caravaggio.  In the early 1600s in Amsterdam, chiaroscuro was new. Rembrandt wasn’t alone with his fascination for the new technique building dramatic ambiguity through veils of darkness.  His biggest competitor as a young artist, Jan Lievens  also adopted this new chiaroscuro system.  How Rembrandt used the mystery of darkness can be seen in etchings.

Etchings are worked up slowly. You scratch an image into a copper plate. Rub in the ink. Lay paper upon the inked plate and roll it through a press ( example 1). You  ponder the results and determine what other work the plate needs before you  ink it  and roll it through again.  The progressive sequence of  images are referred to as different states. The first state is the result of the first roll-through or pull. There can be many different states before the image is considered ready for editioning or, multiple printings.  Rembrandt applied more obscuring darks to his image as he pulled his different printed states.  He also burnished in new lights. Example 2 presents the third state of the crucifixion image.  Example  3 presents the 4th state. Observe how added darkness also adds ambiguity, uncertainty, mystery.

example 1. Rembrandt’s press, friend Nancy McTague Stock took this photo in Rembrandt’s studio.

example 2. 3rd state example.

example 3. later 4th state example.

As a painter I use Rembrandt’s process.  I begin with a painting of wildflowers in a meadow. I’ll call this my 1st state.  Next, I completely obscure the image with dark translucent glazes. When Rembrandt inked his copper plate he would completely obscure the image with the ink. Then he would wipe away the ink to reveal the etched drawing.  As he removed the ink he could see where he would like the etched plate to be darker or lighter. He applied darkness and removed it to reveal light. I used the same process  on my painting examples. I applied translucent darkness and selectively removed areas to reveal small patches of  light lying below.   This created an image with more sparkle,  depth, and mystery.  Rembrandt recomposed the image and broke the light areas into smaller bits of sparkling lights within a field of dark. I will follow his lead in my examples.

Example 4 shows my painting before applying the obscuring glaze. Example 5 is after selectively removing parts of the dark glaze coat.  The painting gets subtly recomposed as well.

example 4. Image before  applying and removing dark glazes.

example 5. after the addition and selective removal of dark glazes.

I repeated this process with another larger image, 36×36 as opposed to previous example’s  24×24 size.  The painting begins as example 6. Example 7 appears after covering  this image with dark glazes and  then selectively revealing shapes in the dark glazes .   I also spritzed a mist of  Eco House’s Extra Mild Citrus Thinner to areas of the newly wet dark glaze. Then I resumed my selective deletions. I painted in a few judicious additions. The thinner caused areas of the  paint to run or drip.  I arrested the dripping with a targeted hairdryer. I liked the splotchy  textures caused by the thinner, especially on the surface of the water. The fineness of the thinner mist determined the diameter size of the blotches. They are almost imperceptible in the image below.

example 6. image before the  dark glazes.

example 7. after dark glazes, thinner spritzing, and selective reveals.

Example 8 represents the initial painting. Example 9 presents the same image after it was covered with dark glaze coats and  after the beginning of the selective removal process.  Example 10 presents the latest version of the image.

example 8. Initial painting.

example 9. after dark glazes and the initial deletions.

example 10. latest version after more paint deletions.

Rembrandt used darkness as a tool for building ambiguity and mystery. Two hundred years later J.M.W. Turner will turn the art world upside down by using light as his obscuring tool for ambiguity. He will add light and compel us to look into the light to make our hypotheses just as Rembrandt had earlier added darkness. How Turner came to this revelation, employed it, and redirected the future of painting will be the subject of later blogposts.

If you live within commuting range of the Silvermine Art Center  in New Canaan, Connecticut then I hope  to see you in class in this next semester. This is a reminder that my classes begin on January 13 and 14. Later this month on January 31st  in Ridgefield, Connecticut at the Watershed Gallery  Max Dunlop and I will exhibit new collaborative artworks as well as individual works by Max and works by me.