Encounters with Rembrandt Audio Trail Transcript

Track 1 - Find Room 24 in the National Gallery

This is an audio tour that introduces the work of the Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, who was born 400 years ago, on the 15th of July 1606. A new display in the National Gallery celebrates this anniversary, bringing together the Gallery's substantial collection of paintings by Rembrandt, his pupils, and artists who were influenced by him. The tour explores some of the key paintings in more detail, and asks what you think. How do these pictures communicate ideas and emotions? What do they tell you about the artist and the important people in his life? And what do you make of them 400 years after Rembrandt was born?

In addition to this introduction, there are seven audio tracks exploring particular paintings in this two-room display, plus one about Rembrandt's fascination with the colour brown, and another suggesting further ways to explore pictures and inviting you to write about your responses to Rembrandt's work.

To start, make your way to Room 24 in the National Gallery, which is at the top of Trafalgar Square in central London. Pick up a Gallery Plan from the Information Desks you'll find at every entrance, and come to Room 24 - play the next track once you're in the room.

Track 2 - Rembrandt, 'Self Portrait at the Age of 34'

Find the painting of a young man leaning on a windowsill, looking out at you - it's in the centre of one of the long walls. This is a self portrait that Rembrandt made in 1640, when he was 34 years old. What sense of him do you get from this picture? ...
Check out his eyes. ...
What about his mouth? ...
How do you read his body language? ...

Confident, proud, shrewd - these are all words that might describe the self-image that the artist projected at the age of 34. He made self portraits throughout his life, sometimes as a way of practicing the representation of particular expressions or capturing light effects, sometimes clearly to make a statement about himself. Rembrandt began life as a miller's son in Leiden; by 1640, he had trained as an artist and established himself in Amsterdam as one of the foremost painters of portraits and religious subjects. His self portrait reflects a sense of pride in his own success.

His clothes and pose were also carefully chosen to make references to paintings by Raphael and Titian, so that with this portrait Rembrandt placed himself in a long line of great artists. The portrait by Titian that seems to have inspired Rembrandt is now hanging in Room 10 of the National Gallery - it also shows a man leaning on a ledge. In the 17th century, it was thought that Titian's painting was a portrait of the poet Ludovico Ariosto. When Rembrandt placed himself in a similar pose, he may well have been arguing that painters should be treated like poets, seen as intellectuals who deserved a high social status rather than as the lowly craftsmen they were sometimes considered to be in his own culture.

Track 3 - Master, pupil, colleague - comparing self portraits

Rembrandt is joined on this wall by two other artists, Jan Lievens and Govert Flinck. Lievens is at the far left of this wall, and Flinck at the far right, next to the door. How do these artists present themselves in their self portraits? ...
Once again, the eyes are a good starting point for thinking about this.
Take a moment to look at each painting, and see what you make of certain key elements - the pose that's been chosen, for example. ...
What costume is each artist wearing? ...
What are the domininant colours? ...
And what's the background setting like in each case? ...

These elements don't just communicate information about each artist - they also tell us something about their different relationships to Rembrandt in the late 1630s. Stand back and take in all three. Do you think that Lievens has used elements like pose, costume, colour and setting to connect with Rembrandt, or to differentiate himself from him? ...
What about Flinck? ...

Lievens shared a studio with Rembrandt back in their youth in Leiden, both artists benefiting from an atmosphere of healthy competition and enquiry. By this point, however, he had moved on, both geographically and in terms of his artistic direction. Now resident in Antwerp, Lievens was interested in the work of the Flemish portrait-painter Anthony Van Dyck - the loose hair, swathes of fabric and landscape background are all reminiscent of Van Dyck's work (on show in Room 31).

Flinck on the other hand had been Rembrandt's pupil, and still very much wanted to emulate his master's approach. His clothing, hair and moustache are so similar to Rembrandt's that this was once thought to be a portrait of him, not of Flinck. ...

The next painting we'll be looking at is hanging opposite Flinck's self portrait. Play the next track when you're standing in front of a painting of a woman holding some flowers.

Track 4 - Rembrandt, 'Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian Costume'

We now meet the woman who played a central part in Rembrandt's early life and career in Amsterdam, Saskia van Uylenburgh. The couple met through Saskia's cousin Hendrick, an art dealer with whom Rembrandt worked in the 1630s. They married in 1634: he made the most of her social connections and large dowry; she benefited from his status as a rising star. What ideas are communicated about his wife from this painting? ...
Do you notice anything about her body? ...

Saskia has been dressed in a costume, probably from Rembrandt's studio collection of outfits and props. Her flowing robes present her as an idealised version of a shepherdess, or maybe even a goddess. The high bodice and full skirt also accommodate Saskia's heavily pregnant form. Rembrandt emphasises the idea of fertility by giving her an armful of flowers, silhouetted against the light that shines on her abdomen.

However, this might not have been a private painting made to celebrate the imminent arrival of the couple's first child. Rembrandt often used his wife as a model for compositions that he intended to sell, and she may simply have been the starting point for a painting that he hoped potential buyers would find appealing.

Technical examinations have shown that Rembrandt made extensive changes to this painting, and seems to have had a different idea in mind at the start. Saskia may originally have been shown as the Biblical heroine Judith. Instead of flowers in her hand, she would have held the severed head of Holofernes (an enemy army commander that she had just killed). Imagine how different the painting would have been, and what different ideas it would have evoked...
Rembrandt was interested in the story of Judith because his ambition was to make history paintings - depictions of narratives from the Bible or ancient history. Such works had a high status as they were considered to be the most difficult kind of painting to do: the artist had to tell a story, and often deliver a moral message, in one 'frozen moment'. There's one hanging to the right of the painting of Saskia - we'll look at that next.

Track 5 - Rembrandt, 'Belshazzar's Feast'

This picture was one of Rembrandt's early moves to establish himself as a history painter. He might have used his wife as a model once again, this time as one of several characters taking part in a dramatic scene.

What seems to be going on? ...
How are ideas and emotions communicated to the viewer? ...
Think about which parts of the painting attract your eye first, and why you're drawn to them. ...

Light picks out expressive faces, hands and some mysterious luminous writing. The diagonal sweep of King Belshazzar's outstretched arms forms the dynamic centre of this composition. Those nearest to him react to his evident terror as he realises that 'the writing is on the wall': an encoded form of Hebrew spells out his doom, punishment for using looted sacred vessels from the Temple in Jerusalem at one of his feasts.

Belshazzar is so startled that he has whirled round, spilling wine and causing a heavy jewelled chain to bounce off his stomach. Rembrandt has given the chain a shadow, so that we get a sense of its movement. He has also included an enigmatic young musician emerging from the gloom at the left hand side, playing a pipe and looking directly at us. What effect do you think this figure has on the scene? ...

The display continues in Room 23 - the doorway is behind you, next to Flinck's self portrait. Play the next track when you're in Room 23.

Track 6 - Room 23 - Rembrandt, 'Woman bathing in a Stream'

Either side of the doorway from Room 24 are two paintings that are thought to show Hendrickje Stoffels, the woman who shared the second half of Rembrandt's life. Saskia died in 1642. Hendrickje came to look after the artist's young son, Titus, and became Rembrandt's common-law wife.

Take a look at the paint surface of the painting that hangs to the left of the doorway, which shows a woman bathing in a stream. It's very different from the works in the earlier part of the display - some parts have been rapidly painted, folds and fingers just sketched in. Yet Rembrandt considered it finished, signing and dating it in 1654. He didn't usually make oil sketches for larger compositions; this seems to be a painting in its own right, made on an intimate scale.

The richly coloured robes discarded behind the figure might suggest that this woman is a biblical heroine. Could it be Susanna, who was spied upon while bathing and was the victim of attempted blackmail? ...
Or is this a character from mythology, perhaps the nymph Callisto? She had been trying to keep her pregnancy secret: it was the result of the god Jupiter's unwanted attentions, and his wife Juno was famously vindictive towards to her husband's conquests. Sadly for Callisto, her condition was discovered when she undressed to bathe with the other nymphs.

This could just be Hendrickje dressing up for Rembrandt, so that he could explore the reflection of colours in the water, and the way that the light falls on her skin and dress. But this painting may also have had a more personal significance for both artist and model. In the year that it was made, Hendrickje suffered public humiliation because she was pregnant with Rembrandt's child, but was not married to him.
Does this information change the way that you read this picture?
If a painting shows the artist's partner, is there inevitably a degree of personal meaning in that work, even if he or she is 'just' the model?

Despite such difficulties, Hendrickje would stay with Rembrandt for the rest of her life, working with Titus to manage the artist's business when he had financial difficulties and declared himself bankrupt. He continued to make innovative drawings, prints and, of course, paintings, exploring in particular the possibilities offered by the texture of oil paint.

Turn round to find the pair of large scale portraits on the opposite wall, showing an elderly couple - she's wearing a white ruff, and he has a white scarf tucked into his robes. Play the next track when you're standing in front of them.

Track 7 - Rembrandt, 'Margaretha de Geer' and 'Jacob Trip'

This large portrait of Margaretha de Geer forms a pair with a portrait of her husband, Jacob Trip. What sense of each half of this couple do you get from their portraits? ...
Does it make a difference whether we see the sitter from the side, or facing us directly? ...
How does the representation of their hands contribute to the impact of each painting?

Margaretha de Geer was in her eighties when she sat for Rembrandt, but her portrait presents her as a formidable woman who was still very much in control. Her hands seem disproportionately large, gripping her chair and handkerchief with grim determination. She seems more substantial than her husband: Jacob may well have died before the portraits were finished, and his picture might have been made from an existing image of him, rather than from life.

Rembrandt was interested in representing ageing faces - especially his own. Turn back around, and look in the centre of the wall opposite for a painting of a man with his hands clasped in front of him, who looks out to make eye contact with the viewer. Play the next track when you've found him.

Track 8 - Rembrandt, 'Self Portrait at the Age of 63'

This is Rembrandt in the final year of his life, when he was 63. What has changed from his earlier self portrait? ...
What messages do you read now from his eyes and mouth? ...
What about his clothes? ...
Does his pose communicate different ideas about him than the one he used 30 years before?

Perhaps you see sadness, or resignation.
Do you think Rembrandt looks weary, tired out by his experiences? ...
Or do you detect a hint of determination? ...
Or something else?

By the time that this painting was made, both Hendrickje and Rembrandt's son Titus were dead, and his work was no longer as fashionable as it had once been. Rembrandt made a number of self portraits during the final years of his life, paintings in which he seems to present himself for unflinching examination, by himself as well as his viewers.

He directs our focus towards his face, through the use of light and layers of heavily textured paint. X-radiographs have shown that originally, Rembrandt painted himself wearing a much larger, white turban, and holding a brush in his right hand; both of these elements were then edited out, so that nothing distracts the viewer from a direct encounter with the artist.

You can find out more about the secrets beneath the surface of Rembrandt's paintings in the new edition of the book Art in the Making: Rembrandt, published by National Gallery Company in 2006 - a reference copy is available in this room. Extensive technical examinations are the starting point for explorations of Rembrandt's working methods, his apparent changes of mind as he developed his ideas, and discussions of who exactly painted what within his large, thriving studio.

Track 9 - Why is everything so brown?

Rembrandt often restricted the range of colours he used to subtle shades of brown, black and white. A limited palette of colours was considered a challenge to the artist's skills, like making an extraordinary meal out of just a few ingredients. Some pigments also darken over time.

But what effect does it have on you now?
Does it make the subjects depicted seem somehow more serious? ...
Does it focus your attention on the use of light, or on the texture of the painted surface? ...
Or do you actually find all that brown a bit dull and depressing?
Some people do.

Before you go, check out the last track, which has some suggestions for ways to carry on exploring paintings, and also invites you to share your responses to Rembrandt's work.

Track 10 - Further exploration, and write about Rembrandt

You can use the kinds of questions asked in this audio guide to explore all sorts of paintings, particularly ones that show people. Try looking at different elements and see what ideas or emotions they seem to suggest.

You might want to start by focusing on eyes and mouths.
See how each figure has been posed - does their body language tell you something? ...
What about costume and setting? ...
Does the lighting of a painting give a particular effect? ...
What about the colour - what difference does that make? ...
Does the texture of the paint add to the overall impression that the painting has on you?

You can use these questions as a starting point, and you don't need any other information about the artist or the subject - just see what you think. If you would like to find out more about particular paintings in the National Gallery, try one of the ArtStart touch-screen information systems (locations are marked on the gallery plan). Or, you can log onto www.nationalgallery.org.uk, and click on 'Collection'.

If you're feeling creative, why not try writing something about Rembrandt's paintings? What do you think when you look at his work? ...

Alternatively, you could put yourself in the position of one of the people in his paintings, and imagine their point of view - what do you think is going through their mind? ...
What would they say if you gave them a voice?

Write a short piece (no more than 600 words), and send it in. You can submit it online via the website, or send it to Louise Govier, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN.

We'll send a copy of Art in the Making: Rembrandt to the authors of the three most interesting submissions. A wider selection will be posted on our website. Don't forget to include your name, address and email address if you have one, so that we can contact you if you win. If you'd like us to send you more information about exhibitions and events at the National Gallery, do say so.

Thanks for listening, and hope to see you soon!

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