Analysis of Rembrandt's Paintings - Paper Example

Introduction

The Concord of the State was a painting done by Rembrandt Van Rijn in 1642 that still exists currently in Rotterdam. Rembrandt Van Rijn was a famous artist born in Leiden (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). While doing his studies after his apprenticeship, he met other painters such as Pieter Lastman. During that time, Rembrandt Van Rijn managed to open his studio in Leiden and became successful with his biblical scenes and famous paintings (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). He even drew a lot of attention especially when he applied the incidence of light to his paintings.

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While working in Amsterdam, Rembrandt Van Rijn work made him be called as a portrait painter because of the well-to-do middle-class paintings. In 1634, Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenburgh and gave birth to Titus (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). Since he was happy, he also did a painting of his son and wife. During Sakia's death in 1642, Rembrandt painted the famous Nachtwacht after his business declined (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). By the year 1656 Rembrandt Van Rijn was declared bankrupt thus making him less elaborate and more reticent.

In more than five hundred years the introduction of the drying oils purposely for decorative paintings were not made of the surface texture particularly of the paint layer. While the oil standards had particular standards of having a smooth surface finish, many artists controversially left brush marks as a way of marking their work (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). Rembrandt secret as it was discovered was exploiting the surface texture the same way in his paintings. This was what was known as a 'secret recipe' when Redelius, Maroger, and others discovered his works.

The analysis of Rembrandt's paintings showed that others rebutted his works that consisted of white layers because they were secretly claimed. This is because Rembrandt used linseed oil while binding, the poppy seed oil, and the walnut oil. The passage of oil to attain its thickness was by heat treatment. Rembrandt samples also had traces of pine resin when he was introducing them. His paintings never had any evidence of wax added to give it a body as claimed during the Eastlake's first visual examinations.

While a few people claimed Rembrandt paintings as having years' of experience, most painters that had workshops copied the same method of using oil paints to just the right handling and viscosity despite it having the effects of pigments (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). Therefore, if Rembrandt predecessors managed to produce the oil paints, what was the needs for the dark secret? The answer to this was that before Rembrandt knew about the surface texture, the early artists always wanted a smooth flush surface. Rembrandt then became the first painter to exploit the visual effects by manipulating the surface texture.

Rembrandt paintings were appreciated for its warm tones, beautiful lighting, and swirl brushstrokes. His works also had personal dimensions that made the museums possess approximately four paintings ascribed to Rembrandt. Two pictures that were undisputed included the Portrait of Concord of the State and the Aletta Adriaensdochter (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). The Portrait of Concord was an oil sketched painting of an undefined military allegory which was swiftly drawn not in color but by the use of muted tones of grey and brown.

The Concord of the State painting also had similar styles to his paper drawings. The portrait of Aletta was a painting done in 1639 about the daughter of Dordrecht based cloth mayor and merchant who was Elias' wife (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). The lady later ended up becoming part of Holland's elite. The portrait that Rembrandt did of Maria (their daughter), still exist in Amsterdam at the Rijksmuseum.

Most of the Rembrandt paintings found in the museums were landscapes, portraits and study figures. Some pictures were preparatory designed similar to Volkert Jansz study whose drawing was used as an official sample at the Rijksmuseum. As it is well known, Rembrandt used sheets in most of his pictures to explore subjects he intended to keep for later references. One example was the Saskia at the window (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). This painting was believed to be one of the loveliest works of Rembrandt in the museum collection because it had a skillful wash.

The graphic works of Rembrandt were important because he managed to rise to international fame since his paintings were reproducible. During that time, the print collectors also appreciated Rembrandt design of adding shade and light to his pictures, including his fluid handling of the line (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). He also used strong and angular lines in his painting to create the dark shadows. The overall effect of his works was breathtaking because Rembrandt never bothered with the details of his drawings but the shades and light.

Conclusion

Rembrandt secret of producing quality paintings according to research discovered that he used small amounts of egg to paint. Subsequently, his work was later reversed and found that the consistency of his pictures was derived from the soap formation in the paint layer since the presence of the egg proteins was not discovered (Scallen & Frederick, 2016). Today, Rembrandt Van Rijn paintings are preserved for the remembrance of his work. Most of his pictures have been placed in frames and hanged in museums as a symbol of the introduction of oil paintings.

References

Scallen, C., & Frederick, A. (2016). Rembrandt van Rijn. Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets. doi:10.1093/obo/9780199920105-0098