Naturalism in the Painting of the Leiden School and its Chief Representatives

The article is devoted to Dutch art — the Leiden School in Holland in the 17th century. The author analyzes the defi nition, particularities and the theoretic foundations of the characteristics and the artistic legacy of the painters — the representatives of the Leiden school and also demonstrates the close connection between naturalism and the particularities of the paintings of the school’s adherents and the uniqueness of the works by such masters as Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Gerrit Dou and Frans van Mieris the Elder.

Rembrandt: estética, sujeción y corporalidad

La producción y el contexto del pintor holandés Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, permite un análisis de diversos cambios en las concepciones de la subjetividad y el cuerpo que se dan en el mundo europeo a comienzos del siglo XVII. A través de las llamadas lecciones de anatomía y sus autorretratos, Rembrandt da cuenta de la racionalización, la aparición del individuo y objetivación de la corporalidad: de un cuerpo unido a la comunidad en la Edad Media, a la representación en la Modernidad de un cuerpo como un objeto inerte; del sujeto comunitario a la percepción del sujeto como unidad.

From Classical Compositions to Contemporary Seriality

Classical compositions, such as those of Claude Lorrain (1600–1680), show balanced situations where the depicted objects seem to represent beauty – they appear to exist in an ideal order; they seem right, once and for all. They allow their viewers, who live in a contingent world, believe that unity and beauty are attainable. English landscape gardens in the eighteenth century offered viewers the experience of moving in real settings that seem to reproduce the canvasses of classical landscape painting. Contemporary visitors know this is an imitation; they appreciate that this is not everyday reality but a kind of realized utopia. Artworks such as the early ones by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) and those from the nineteenth century onwards (Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet), make us understand that a final rightness is not possible; that it is only possible to try again and again to attain the real – without ever arriving at the one right solution. In their endeavour to depict reality, these artists engage in a serial elaboration of the same subjects and objects of their art. These series of nearly the same subjects invoke the impossibility of getting it right once and for all. Piet Mondrian illustrates the development from seriality, as repeated attempts to depict the same with a difference, to the practice of seriality as an experiment in symmetry and balance that both goes back to Claude Lorrain and modernizes the concept of the ideal for application to abstract art. In contemporary art after the Second World War serial structures in single artworks were common, thus superseding compositions with their discredited promise of ideality. Series occurred not only in the contemporary visual arts, but also in literature, music and in the theatre. The repetitive structures of Minimal Art offer to the beholder the possibility of experiencing ‘reality’ in an age of media and fakes. My example will be the repetitive structures of Christian Boltanskiʼs oeuvre which provides an opportunity to reflect on the similarity and difference of people in contemporary democracies. My main argument is therefore that the change from composition to seriality corresponds to historical change.

Rembrandt: estética, sujeción y corporalidad

La producción y el contexto del pintor holandés Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, permite un análisis de diversos cambios en las concepciones de la subjetividad y el cuerpo que se dan en el mundo europeo a comienzos del siglo XVII. A través de las llamadas lecciones de anatomía y sus autorretratos, Rembrandt da cuenta de la racionalización, la aparición del individuo y objetivación de la corporalidad: de un cuerpo unido a la comunidad en la Edad Media, a la representación en la Modernidad de un cuerpo como un objeto inerte; del sujeto comunitario a la percepción del sujeto como unidad.

Rembrandt

The son of a miller in Leiden, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn turned to art as a profession relatively late. While many began artistic training early in their youth, Rembrandt did not do so until after he had enrolled at the University of Leiden. Rembrandt then learned the rudiments of painting from Jacob van Swanenburgh before apprenticing for the renowned artist Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. Familiarity with Lastman’s proclivity for well-wrought and researched representations of scenes from antiquity and the Bible provided Rembrandt with the tools to excel as a history painter. On his return to Leiden in 1626, Rembrandt shared a studio with Jan Lievens, who had studied with Lastman just a few years earlier. Together they inspired and propelled one another, attracting considerable attention in the process. Through the mediation of the art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh, Rembrandt ventured into the larger market of Amsterdam and relocated to the city shortly thereafter, in 1632. While the bulk of Rembrandt’s early works can be categorized as history paintings, he quickly became an accomplished portraitist. Indeed, it was through portraiture that Rembrandt secured clients and established a market presence. It is likely that through his portrayal of Amsterdam patricians he landed prestigious commissions and sales for historical works. From the mid-1630s through the end of his career, Rembrandt produced history pieces and portraits concurrently. Perhaps as a result, many of his history paintings possess some qualities of portraiture while he also introduced multi-figured narrative strategies into his portraits. Rembrandt was a multimedia artist. In addition to painting, he was also an accomplished draftsman and printmaker. In drawings, Rembrandt searched for pictorial solutions to form and subject, though individual drawings rarely served as preparatory models for paintings. In prints, Rembrandt was the pre-eminent etcher of his time. Each etching is independent from his paintings and constituted an original work of art it its own right. Etchings also constituted a significant part of his business plan as they circulated his abilities widely, even beyond the borders of the Dutch Republic, and they were offered at lower costs than were his paintings, ensuring a wider market. In all media, Rembrandt is admired for the humanity of his representations and the boldness of his formal explorations.