The Story of Dutch PaintingCaffin, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
History
The Story of Dutch Painting
Caffin, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
Painting, Dutch
The influence exerted by Hals in these four directions--namely, in the
treatment of still-life, in composition, in regard for values, and in
the habit of skilful brushwork--was supplemented by that of Rembrandt,
which dates from 1632, the year in which he moved to Amsterdam. The
latter also affected the development of genre, but not in the line of
direct suggestion. Rembrandt’s technique in its most characteristic
aspects was and still remains too personal an expression of his own
attitude of mind and of its changes of mood, varying according to the
nature of each subject interpreted, to permit of imitation. Rembrandt
contributed ideas. He enlarged the scope of genre by the suggestion, on
the one hand, of a further range of subject, and, on the other, of a new
motive in technique. It was especially the example of his religious
pictures that affected the idea of subject, either directly leading
other artists to a similar treatment of religious themes or indirectly
encouraging them to include some kind of sentiment in the domestic
scenes they depicted. Meanwhile, by the example of his own use of
chiaroscuro, he encouraged a more subtle study of values, at once more
intimate and varied and more expressive.
An admirable epitome of the character of Rembrandt’s influence upon his
contemporaries is in the old Pinakothek in Munich. In the first place
there is a _Holy Family_, painted in 1631, the year before he moved from
Leyden. It is about six feet high, the figures being life-size; but the
conception and treatment of the subject are thoroughly in the way of
genre. The picture presents a glimpse of the interior of a Dutch home:
the tools hanging on the walls, the face, figure, and costume of the
mother, the Child swathed in a shawl, and the familiar accompaniment of
the cradle--all are distinctively Dutch in character. The mother, with a
pretty gesture of tenderness, is fondling one of the Baby’s feet,
looking down at it with a gentle smile, while the father bends forward
over the cradle in an attitude of reverent solicitude. The whole scene
breathes the quiet happiness of domestic life. In its character the
picture is essentially a genre subject. At the time it was painted Dou
was working in Rembrandt’s studio, and to its influence it is not
unreasonable to trace at least some of the tendency that Dou exhibited
in later years to introduce just such tender and reverential sentiment
into his own work, as witness _The Young Mother_ at the Hague Gallery
and _The Old Woman Saying Grace_ in the Pinakothek in Munich. In fact,
_The Holy Family_ is already characteristic of the sentiment that became
infused into genre by the example of Rembrandt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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