Rembrandt - "The Soap Bubble Boy" is back Home

Rembrandt - "Soap Bubble Boy"
60x40cm

It reminded me some of the works of Jean-Baptiste Chardin who later on the 18th century also used the children amusement with Soap Bubbles to enlight his paintings.

But this Rembrandt's special Soap Bubble Boy has a stolen history associated.

In 1999, this painting was stolen from a museum nearby the city of Draguignan, in France, probably targeted by art connoisseurs, so the police thought. At the time police believed that the thieves escaped through a back door in the museum during the town's Bastille Day celebrations and since then the picture was never seen again.

15 years later, last week, the picture was recovered  in Nice, while it was being traded by two art dealers, on the black market, who later were arrested. 

Estimated on 3.9 million euros it seems that the burglars were expecting an huge profit with the selling of unique pieces which involves millions annually.

Rembrandt van Rijn - Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp

Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp - 1632

Mauritshuis Museum - The Hague

By the 17th century, anatomy lessons were performed throughout Europe, each winter, on victims of public hangings. At that time, in European cities, the dissection of bodies was only legal if the subject was a male criminal and considered outside of the Church. The dissections were performed with the consent of the city council, and were a means to collect funds for city council meetings and dinners. All council and guild members (association of craftsmen in a particular trade: judges, surgeons, lawyers, etc)  were required to attend and pay an admission fee.
In january 1632, the famous Amsterdam anatomist and lecture Dr. Nicolaes Tulp also known by his famous ”Book of Monsters”performed his second public autopsy in front of seven members of the Guild of Surgeons. Rembrandt van Rijn  (1606-69) was still a young man when he received this important commission from the guild and it was his first group portrait. The subject of the dissection, and center of focus, is a common criminal. The arrangement of the six heads on the left form an arrow pointing to Tulip's right hand and, curiously, the seventh man holds a list of the participants and links Tulip to the group compositionally.

Rembrandt chose the moment when Dr. Tulip dissected the forearm of the corpse to ilustrate the muscle structure. The painting is anatomically incorrect, but Rembrandt focuses instead on displaying psychological intensity. The eager inquisitiveness of the onlookers is striking, as is their proximity to the corpse given the stench that must have accompanied such dissections. Rembrandt's use of chiaroescuro is often compared to Caravaggio although it is unlikely that Rembrandt had seen a painting by him. He probably learned the technique through Dutch artists who visited Italy and had been influenced by Caravaggio. The staged nature of this painting suggests public dissections were considered "performances".

There is also a moral message connecting criminality and sin to dissection, and an implicit warning that death awaits everyone. In 1656 Rembrandt was commisioned to paint another dissection and firmly established this genre.
Source: Wikipedia, Stephan Farthing, net.

Rembrandt van Rijn - Self-portrait with Saskia

Self-portrait with Saskia - 1635

Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister - Dresden

I find this a delightful painting. It’s a portrayal of an utter happiness; it cheerfully expresses Rembrandt van Rijn 's joy in his marriage. He holds Saskia on his knee and raises a glass to us. Funny is that Saskia’s expression betrays a certain embarrassment at the rather vulgar laughter of her husband. Rembrandt met the twenty-year-old Saskia at the home of Hendrick van Uylenburch, his associate and dealer. She was a close relative of van Uylenburch. On the dead of her father, who had been burgomaster of Leeuwarden, she had left the province of Friesland in order to settle in Amsterdam. A love affair developed between the young artist and the cultured, florid, and rather timid girl. Saskia and Rembrandt, defying the guarded reaction from her tutor and relatives, became officially engaged on June 5, 1633. Arrangements for the marriage were made, with Rembrandt’s mother dithering for a long time before giving her consent. Finally on July 22, 1634, Rembrandt and Saskia, were married, having chosen to return to Saskia’s native Friesland for the wedding. Rembrandt and Saskia enjoyed a mutually affectionate relationship, based on imagination, fun, and sensual fulfillment. Thanks to his successful marriage and consistently high fees he earned as a painter and engraver, Rembrandt became a wealthy man almost overnight, on a par with highly respected professionals and members of high society. In 1635, at the age of 29, he was able to move to an elegant dwelling on the banks of the Amstel. For Rembrandt, a miller’s son, the marriage also involved a considerable rise in his social status. Soon he would become famous at the Court at The Hague. He was thus to receive many aristocratic commissions, although the fees were not always settled promptly. Regarding this happy painting some critics have seen this happy couple as also a parable of the prodigal son, who squandered his father’s fortune on improper revelry. However the genuine happiness expressed by the painting seems to contradict any possible intention to moralize.

Source: Stefano Zuffi - The Great Dutch Master