They are ordinary people with faces that depict weariness and worry; older folks with sagging chins and tired eyes. Full of sighs and thoughts. Friendly and yet pensive.
But, despite all the human frailties of their external bodies, these portraits also reveal a quiet inner spiritualism, marked by a faith that instills a sense of peace amidst questioning doubts and confusions.
The 16 paintings that make up the Getty Center's current exhibition, "Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits," are a stunning, first-time-ever collection of some of the Dutch master's finest creations.
Gathered from galleries around the world --- including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery in London and museum in Rotterdam, Helsinki, Zurich, Munich and Amsterdam --- the exhibition portraits are dramatic life-size images of saints and apostles, representations of Christ and the Virgin and even a self-portrait of the artist as the Apostle Paul.
"You cannot look at these images without discovering what Rembrandt was going through at this time in his life," says Anne Woollett, assistant curator of paintings at the Getty. "He was identifying himself with certain aspects of their lives as he was exploring the personality of these holy figures."
Indeed, Rembrandt's later life could very well be captured in these powerful portraits that, at the time, were very revolutionary and ground-breaking.
To start with, no one really knows why exactly Rembrandt painted these religious-themed portraits. Shrouded in mystery, these portraits were very uncommon in largely Protestant Holland, where images of saints did not play a devotional role in religious life. Rembrandt was not Catholic and was raised in the Reformed Church.
Were they a commission? A personal testimony? Scholars today still debate the unknown, says Woollett. "Rembrandt did have a wide variety of patrons, even up until his death," she explains. "But since there is no documentation or archival materials about them, we'll never know the real answer."
Known for his ability to convey feeling through gesture and expression and through dramatic contrasts of light and shade, Rembrandt enjoyed success as a portraitist and history painter in the 1630s. He created dynamic images based on biblical and classical subjects, and had students flocking to his academy to learn from the master.
Produced between the late 1650s and early 1660s, these religious portraits emerged at a time when Rembrandt was still in a highly productive stage of his career despite personal adversity. He had assumed a huge debt on a house in a posh part of town; his wife had earlier died having lost three children in infancy; he had numerous lawsuits with one mistress; and another mistress, Hendrickje Stoffels, had been publicly shamed for bearing a child out of wedlock.
Rembrandt's financial trouble and mounting debts would plague him to the end. He spent his last years in poverty, watching both Hendrickje and his only son Titus die in the plague. Rembrandt died in 1669, and was buried in a rented grave.
Still, Rembrandt's late portraits give no indication of hardship or ruin. In fact, says Woollett, they resound with "gentle beauty."
"They are a big change from the way he painted the same subjects earlier in his life," she continues. When Rembrandt painted St. Paul in 1627, he showed everything in the cell, the straw, the leather bindings, and the stucco wall. "Now what we see here is just a simple beautiful face coming out of the blackness. It's poignant and compelling."
That's what makes these portraits so revolutionary for the times, Woollett points out. Until then, saints and holy figures were portrayed as heroic, strong and powerful. "I think Rembrandt gets to the essence of the inner life and that included a weakness of people that we might not suspect," she says. "This is so different from say a Ruben's portrayal of the same subjects."
Creating the saints and holy figures as vulnerable and yet loveable --- Hendrickje herself was used as a model for the Sorrowing Virgin --- Rembrandt was challenging the societal norm about preconceptions of religious thinking. These people are not above us, he seems to say, they are just like us.
"My hope is that people who come to see these paintings have an experience of the artistry of Rembrandt," sums up Woollett. "To see the power of these paintings and the psychological complexities as well as the brushstrokes of a great master." "Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits" will be on display at The Getty Center through Aug. 28. The Getty is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday, and 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Getty is located at 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood. Admission is free, parking is $7. For more information call (310) 440-7330. |