'Rembrandt: Studies in his Varied Approaches to Italian Art' explores his engagement with imagery by Italian masters. His references fall into three categories: pragmatic adaptations, critical commentary, and conceptual rivalry. These are not mutually exclusive but provide a strategy for discussion. This study also discusses Dutch artists’ attitudes toward traveling south, surveys contemporary literature praising and/or criticizing Rembrandt, and examines his art collection and how he used it. It includes an examination of the vocabulary used by Italians to describe Rembrandt’s art, with a focus on the patron Don Antonio Ruffo, and closes by considering the reception of his works by Italian artists.
Author(s): Amy Golahny
Series: Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 317. Brill’s Studies on Art, Art History, and Intellectual History, 48
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 288
City: Leiden
Preface
Acknowledgements
Illustrations
Chapter 1. Prologue: Setting the Stage
1 Who Did, or Did Not, Travel to Italy
2 Dutch Artists Who Painted Italy at Second Hand
3 Jacob van Swanenburg and Pieter Lastman in Italy
4 Advice about Travel
5 On the Road in Italy: Nicholas Stone Jr.
6 The Material Evidence: Collecting Italian Art in Holland
7 Van Mander’s Account of Remarkable Italian Paintings in Dutch Collections
8 A Sampling of Amsterdam Collections: 1630–1660
9 Rembrandt at the Art Market
10 A Contrast in Collecting: Joachim von Sandrart in Amsterdam and Bavaria
Chapter 2. Attitudes: Critical, Admiring, and Curious toward Rembrandt
1 Rembrandt’s Acquaintances Condemn His Disregard for Italian Values: Huygens, Sandrart and De Lairesse
2 Pels, De Decker, and De Geest: Polarizing Attitudes
3 Rembrandt’s Singular Manner: Houbraken
4 Rembrandt’s Naturalism in Stefano della Bella’s Model Books
5 Rembrandt’s Goal in Art
Chapter 3. Rembrandt’s Collection and How He Used It: the Canonical and the Unusual
1 Drawing from the Original: Mantegna, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian
2 Reminiscences and Variations
3 Life Study Fused with Art
4 Sculpture as Substitute for Life Study
Chapter 4. Pragmatic Solutions
1 Borrowed Plumes Easily Disguised
2 The 'Supper at Emmaus' of c. 1629
3 Rembrandt and the 'Madonna of the Rosary': Structuring the Stage
4 'Judas Returning the 30 Pieces of Silver': Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci
5 Two People in One Frame
5.1 The 'Shipbuilder and his Wife', 1633: Griet Jans Interrupting Jan Rijcksen at Work
5.2 The Ruffo 'Aristotle and the Bust of Homer', 1653
5.3 The Ruffo 'Homer', 1663
Chapter 5 Appropriating for Commentary: Rembrandt’s Critique of Titian, Raphael, and Leonardo
1 'Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple': the 1626 Painting and the 1635 Etching
2 The 'Hundred Guilder Print': Exploiting Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo
2.1 Raphael’s 'Il Morbetto'
2.2 Raphael’s 'School of Athens'
2.3 Michelangelo’s 'Prince'
2.4 Leonardo’s 'Last Supper'
Chapter 6 Appropriation and Deviation: Responding for Alternatives
1 'Diana and Actaeon with Callisto and Nymphs': Referencing the Italians
2 'The Flute Player and Flower Girl': an Alternative to Titian
3 The Female Nude
3.1 'Danae', 1636+
3.2 'Bathsheba', 1654
3.3 A Woman Bathing in a Stream (Callisto), 1654
Chapter 7 Rembrandt Perceived by the Italians: Castiglione, the Ruffo Collection, and 'La Maniera Gagliarda'
1 Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione: Inspired Improvisations
2 Rembrandt’s Ruffo Series
3 Abraham Brueghel’s Intermediary Role in the Ruffo Commissions
4 Guercino: Business-like, Efficient, and Respectful
5 Preti: Grudging Accommodation
6 Salvator Rosa: Independent, Arrogant, and Uncooperative
7 Brandi: Eager to Please
8 'La Maniera Gagliarda'
9 Baciccio: the Last Word
Bibliography
Index
