828 D
Rembrandt
Geldwechsler - Gleichnis vom reichen Kornbauern - Parable of the Rich Man
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
Zusammenfassung - Summary (English version)
Summary of art technological research
The painting is signed and dated RH. 1627. The earliest possible painting of the oak wood
panel, which consists of one piece, is conceivable from 1617 onwards. Its size of 32 x 42,5
cm has remained unchanged. With the exception of the top, the back of the panel is bevelled
along all sides.
Signature
The monogram RH (connected) has been painted with a narrow brush into the dark paint
layer, when the surface was still soft. The numbers 1627 (with a dot on the right side at the
upper part of the number 7) were applied smoothly onto the painted surface. However, they
are homogeneously bound with the dark paint layer.
Preparatory layers
The ground is composed of two layers. The panel was first covered by a thin, almost white
coating, in which no white pigments are discernable, even with 64 times magnification. The
visible wood grain on the X-rays indicates that lead white could have been used for
colouring of the ground. The second layer is also white; yet with a light grayish hue in which
slightly transparent looking, white grains are embedded. The light coloured ground was
darkened by a thinly applied, brownish black paint. The horizontal brushstrokes can be
seen in the scraped-out lines for the pages of the large print volume.
Layout of the composition
Examination of the painting has not indicated that the composition was designed primarily
on the panel. Some thin linear outlines of form are visible on the technical images. However,
their following order within the painting’s development cannot be defined by means of a
microscope.
The realisation of the composition followed in several steps, each time with a very thin
layer. The order becomes apparent at bordering paint areas, but at the edges of flaking paint
the singular layers are hardly discernible.
“Dead-colouring”
The composition was painted thinly and loosely at first with a grayish brown paint, then
modified by an opaque brown paint layer containing white pigments.
The shadowy areas were deepened with a thin black paint.
Implementation in colour
The composition of grayish brown underpaint with the intensified shadows would now
receive a colourful design in thin, flat brushstrokes. This colourful paint application has not
been further worked out in the dark areas of the table and in the background. Also in the
dark parts of the sleeves, hanging down from the arms, and of the pouch laying there, this
first flat paint application is the currently visible surface.
Design in relief
The candlelit details were, subsequent to the design in colour, precisely shaped in relief by a
light, grayish yellow, viscous paint. Previously, these areas were underpainted with black
paint. The face of the Rich Man was already shaped as an old, wrinkly face, with heightened
cheeks, bridge of the nose, forehead and chin, and deeper laying eyes and a sunken, shallow
mouth, in three-dimensional relief. The items, too, are physically modeled in this light,
grayish yellow, viscous paint and are discernible as monochrome, crumpled or folded
objects in relief. Brightly lit details were then highlighted with a thickly applied white paint.
Completion of the composion
A few thin glazes only further differentiated the light, grayish yellow relief. In some areas,
like the large sheet of paper to the right and in part of the face, the yellow grey paint was left
visible as a paint layer. The draft in color was made immediately afterwards on the still
fresh foundation. The graphic characters were applied in the still flexible paint by using
various amounts of pressure; sometimes the paintbrush was thereby also turned.
Further details, like the pile on the shelf and the objects on the table, were shaped paste-like
and wet-in-wet in various paint colors.
Not until nearing the end of the painting’s development the robe of the Rich Man was
finished, by applying a viscous white paint and a deepening of the shades. The composition
was substantiated by a further enlightening of the illuminated areas with a paste-like
brushstroke and a further darkening of shadows, as well as a trailing of the contours.
Scraping of lines
Before working out the final composition with glazes, the hair of the beard and the lines for
the pages of the books were scraped out using a small tool with a flat tip. At the final
revision of the painting with glazes, the paint spread out into some of the lines. The lines in
the sheet that hangs from the shelf were scraped out again with the same tool. The paint
that spread into the scratches to the left of the coins was removed again with short
movements in a right angle to the lines.
Condition
The panel shows several cracks that start from the edges and run inwards, as well as a loss
in the left edge towards the middle. The paint layer also shows several horizontal cracks.
There are areas with raised paint at the overall painted surface, but mostly in the face of the
Rich Man and at the right side of the painting. The tips of the paint flakes are partially
broken off.
The thinly painted, top left side of the background and the dark area in the bonnet are
strongly abraded.
All over the painted surface small, round, whitish spots are discernible on the paint or
varnish layers. Along a lengthy crack in the paint at the mouth and in the area of the clock
there is some whitish crazing.
Comments
The first autoradiography image proves that the painting of 1627 features an underpainting
of the entire composition in brown paint. It is a clear indication for Rembrandt keeping to
traditional painting techniques in this early work, by underlying a composition first with
monochrome underpaint, so called ”dead-colouring” (Dutch: doodverf). Rembrandt also
taught his first student this technique. The study of an early work by Gerard Dou with the
aid of autoradiography, “Dutch room with woman peeling an apple”, ca. 1630, in the
collection of the Gemäldegalerie, shows an almost identical approach. Here as well, the
entire composition was underpainted with brown paint. Another similarity between the
two paintings is the absence of smalt and the minimal use of ivory black pigments. The
autoradiography shows that the outlining of the composition was already determined by
the time the grisaille underpaint was applied. There is no evidence at all that Rembrandt
designed the composition primarily on the panel.
The idea of modeling the candlelit details as a structural relief, by applying a light, greyish
yellow paint in a plastic manner, demonstrates an ingenious creativity. A similar viscous
brushstroke with a light colour is described for the painting Musical Allegory of 1626,
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. In his book The Painter at Work, p. 31, Ernst van de Wetering
specifies this viscous underpainting as part of the dead colour. However, in the painting
Parable of the Rich Man the relief was applied only at an advanced stage in the development
of the composition, when the colourful execution of details in the shadows was already
finished.
The word “scraping” in the description of the lines indicating book pages or ornaments, is
consciously chosen and should explain the contrast with a scratch or incision. The lines
were scraped with a small tool with a flat tip of about 0,3 to 0,4 mm in width. Towards the
edges of a scraped line the paint builds up. The scraping ends in a rounded off manner, with
a small accumulation of paint. It is obvious to presume that Rembrandt used a burin or an
etching needle as a tool. Both utensils were manufactured with variously shaped tips. The
tool that was used here must have had a flattened, rounded point. Scrapings of various
width or also tapering could be realized with it, depending on the handling.