Documentation
Summary
Katja Kleinert, Claudia Laurenze-Landsberg and Sarah Giering
Artist
Rembrandt, circle
Title
The Man with the Golden Helmet
Dating
c. 1650-1660
Signature
none
Dimensions
H: 67.7 cm
Owner
Gemäldegalerie SMB - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Cat. No
811A
Inv. No
Waagen No
W: 51 cm
Nr. 18 (III inventory of the Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Verein)
---
Description and Genesis of the Composition
The painting shows the life-size bust of an elderly man, who is turned to the right. He is
wearing a ceremonial helmet and an iron gorget and he is depicted in front of an even, dark
background. Unlike the illuminated golden helmet, the plastic application of which was given
considerable plasticity by adding impastoed ornaments that stand out tangibly and which
thus is the most striking element of the painting, the shaded face and the bust of the man
have been painted in a flat and rather discreet manner.
There are several alterations in the painting that were made in the course of the painting
process. Due to the bad condition of the painting it is, however, difficult to reconstruct which
changes were made during the painting process, and which belong to earlier restorations.
The painting's development was nevertheless probably less complex than has thus far been
assumed.
It is certain that in the course of the painting process the helmet was reduced on the right
hand side by approx. 1.5 cm, by covering this area with the background colour. By contrast,
a pentimento of an original yellow helmet cloth1 with folds that appear to fall like a festoon (as
1
Kelch 1986, p. 27; Pieh 1987, p. 30.
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
can also be seen on one of the armed figures in the background of Rembrandt's "The Night
Watch"), cannot be traced with certainty. At the height of the man's right cheek, a yellow
shape is discernible which could correspond to the strap of a helmet cloth. On the other
hand, the remaining shape of the cloth hanging down in a round curve cannot be traced in its
entirety. The technical photographs do not resolve this issue unequivocally either.
Another pentimento, which up to now was interpreted as a golden chain or cord, was
formulated in a few brushstrokes during the painting process and was subsequently painted
over. It was exposed during an earlier restoration and was not covered up during the
restoration of 1985. The shape of this pentimento starts on the left of the man's shoulder, and
runs down at an angle across his chest. It may have originally been a narrow golden sword
belt running diagonally across his chest. Not only would this have matched the shape of the
pentimento, it would also have been logically consistent with the other parts of his armour.
The possible execution of a red coat-like cloak during the painting process will have to
remain largely unexplained. Until now it was thought that this cloak covered the entire upper
body, had a V-shaped neckline, and was draped over both shoulders. The assumption was
that in setting up the iron gorget, the motif of the cloak was painted over. 2 In the present
investigation, however, it was found that the gorget had in fact been conceived from the very
beginning of the painting process and was set up simultaneously with the rest of the
garment. Microscopical analyses show, that in the entire upper body original brushstrokes in
red lake are often part of one of the upper layers, or even the top layer. One may therefore
assume that the upper body of the man originally remained a reddish hue, which was not
painted over again during the painting process. The reddish areas in the garment in addition
differ in the way they were built up from the areas in the background located directly above
the man's shoulders, the shape of which is reminiscent of a billowing cloak or a robe. Unlike
the areas in the grey garment, the madder lake was underpainted here with a lighter red. The
build-up of the paint layers of the one therefore differs clearly from the other.
Whether or not the red, robe-like areas in the background are a later addition can no longer
be determined unequivocally due to the bad condition of the painting. The shape of the
drapery overall exhibits some inconsistencies. Thus the red fabric extended, in a shape
which stands out oddly for a cloak or robe, up to the left cheek of the man. As a whole, it is
no longer possible to reconstruct the original build-up of the right hand side of the painting
containing the contour line of the body.
According to the latest research, the lines in the upper body3 (particularly in the gorget) which
appear especially conspicuously in the autoradiographs and which in 1986/87 were
interpreted as a "compositional design", are in fact almost in all cases contour lines or
shaded areas in boneblack which lie on top.
2
3
Kelch 1986, p. 27; Pieh 1987, p.30.
Kelch 1986, p. 27; Pieh 1987, p.17-18, 30.
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
Technical Structure
Support
The textile support is a plain weave canvas with 15.4 vertical and 16.2 horizontal threads per
cm. The support does not have a seam. The painting was lined twice. In the course of the
lining, all sides of the original support were trimmed. Considering the cusping that is
discernible, the left and upper edge appear to have been trimmed more, as cusping is no
longer visible here. By the lower and right edge but a little and only slight cusping is present.
During re-mounting, the left side of the painted original textile was folded over the edge of the
stretcher by 0.5 cm. On all other sides the painted surface of the original support extends just
up to the front edge of the stretcher. Additional indications of a trimming of the painted
surface include the compositionally rather scant background as well as several abruptly
ending brushstrokes along the lower edge of the painting.
Preparatory layers
The priming in two layers consists of a first finely pigmented red layer and a second coarsely
pigmented grey layer. (First priming layer: red iron oxide pigment, with minor admixtures of
quartz and lead white. Second priming layer: coarse lead white, plant/vegetable black, fine
brown pigment).
Traces of the working process are discernible in the x-ray (due to lead white) and the
autoradiograph (due to manganese in the 1st film). Brushwork-like structures can be seen
and the brushstrokes are long and arc-shaped, usually running vertically.
There is no evidence of a sketch or preparatory drawing, neither in the autoradiographs nor
in the infrared reflectography.
Paint layers and their application
The artist employed only a few different paint mixtures, and repeatedly used these in the
painting.
Flesh-tone and hair on the head
The flesh-tone with its light, intermediate and shadow tones was applied directly onto the
priming. A white or very light underpainting as modelling is not discernible under the
microscope. The priming has remained visible in the shadows as a cool hue. The lightest
highlights were applied later in impasto and next to one another. The deepest shadows were
added thinly but opaquely. The flesh-tone was then modified with yellow, reddish and brown
glazes. In some shadows (lips, corners of the mouth, cheeks, wing of the nose, eyelid) at the
end purple reflexes were added. The highlights on the bridge of the nose, cheek, eye, temple
and the highlights in the beard are faintly visible in the x-ray, due to their lead white content.
The eyes were set up on the flesh-tone, in black without differentiating between pupil and iris,
and the eyeball in grey. Then followed the yellow and pink highlights of the flesh-tone. Only
in this area do these contain blue copper pigment (see NAAR). Finally the upper edge of the
eye was retraced in brown. Some highlights were given reddish glazings and some shadows
were glazed with violet. Accents were placed in the eyebrows using a copper pigment. (see
NAAR)
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
The nose has been painted directly onto the priming. The brightest highlight has been
applied in opaque white paint and was then modified with a pink glazing. Then come
unmitigated yellow and orange highlights and grey reflections, which were juxtaposed in high
contrast. The grey reflections have an even warmer appearance when glazed with yellow.
The deepest shadows on the bridge of the nose and the nares were set up using a black and
some reflexes in purple.
The red of the lips and the shading of the corners of the mouth were applied directly onto the
priming. These were followed by the shading and intermediate hues of the beard, in several
hues of grey. The somewhat more impastoed highlights were applied in cool and warm hues
of white to grey. Individual hairs were indicated with lines in black and ochre. Finally, the
deepest shadow between the lips was painted and purple reflexes were applied to the
corners of the mouth and on the lips.
The strands of hair were initially executed in hues of grey onto the flesh-tone, and were given
yellow highlights. On top of these, black shadows and a purple reflex were applied.
Golden helmet
The distinct thick impasto was built up in lead white, directly onto the priming, and mimics the
surface structure of the helmet like a relief. The impasto peters out in the shaded areas. They
probably merge into hues of grey and black in the same step in the painting process, and as
a result the entire helmet is underpainted with hues ranging from white to grey.
Fairly large amounts of arsenic were in evidence in the helmet (see NAAR and gamma
spectroscopy). The use of smalt that has been coloured less with cobalt in the impasto to
give the paint more body has already been observed in other paintings.
The impasto was then glazed with a yellow. Several highlights and the areas depicting silver
were left uncovered by this glazing and were thus left white. Subsequently the recesses in
the impasto and the shaded areas were covered with hues of brown and black, causing the
highlights to flash out brightly.
In the shadow, the surface structure of the helmet was depicted on the underpainting in
warm hues of grey and brown. Impastoed accents were added wet-in-wet on these colours in
an ochre hue, which let the impasto peter out in the semi-shade. In many areas a second
cool yellow glazing followed, which also extends across brown shaded areas and there
results in a cool green. Subsequently once again impastoed highlights in a yellowish white as
well as opaque reflexes in red, purple, ochre, siena, grey up to black were applied, and
partially glazed again with red or yellow. Depending on their location being either in the
highlighted area or the semi-shadow, these reflexes were used very differently.
The red lining of the helmet was underpainted upon the surrounding shaded parts of the
flesh-tone and the helmet with a red iron oxide pigment, and painted over with a red lake.
Finally the shading between the helmet, lining and flesh-tone were reinforced with black.
The feathers were pre-modelled directly onto the priming in hues of grey up to white. The
blue feathers were already entirely worked out in the course of the modelling in values of
grey to black, and were then painted over with a blue copper pigment (compare NAAR,
gamma spectroscopy). The light grey highlights were left untouched. The red feathers were
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
painted over with a dark red, an ochre hue and with paint applications which gradually turn
lighter, mostly also in a wet-in-wet technique. During this process, highlights in ochre and
white were applied, but also accentuating touches in purple.
Finally, the shadows were reinforced and contours were retraced with black. Several yellow
to red glazes as well as some final highlights were added.
Garment
The gorget and the garment have been underpainted in a warm dark grey in gradations, thus
already indicating a modelling.
Upon this modelling further colour modelling was applied in the semi-shadows of the gorget,
using an ochre and a red-brown. Then the lightest highlights were applied in impastoed white
and grey. The white contains a blue pigment (apparently smalt). Then followed glazes in
purple and yellow. The shadows and contours were then reinforced with boneblack.
The highlights and colour transitions in the garment on the shoulder were painted loosely and
quickly in yellow, red and purple. These colours were applied in wide brushstrokes onto the
warm grey applied along with the gorget. At the end yellow and purple glazings were applied
and shadows were retraced with black.
The chest has blanched considerably due to the use of smalt and has subsequently been
overpainted. Unlike in other areas, where it was used to give more body to the paint, the
more intensely coloured smalt with a higher cobalt content here had a colouring function. The
shading was executed with boneblack.
The golden chain or cord at chest height was formulated in but a few brushstrokes onto the
chest, using hues of ochre, yellow and black. Upon it lie remnants of original paint, so it may
be interpreted as a pentimento.
The red cloak was underpainted with a lighter red, similarly to the way the lining of the golden
helmet was underpainted, and was painted over with a purple glaze. The glazing partially
extends beyond the red over the background colour. This purple glaze can also be found
time and again on the rest of the garment in its entirety as one of the upper original paint
layers. The underpainting remains visible in the highlights. The gradations of the shadow are
finally deepened with dark brown and black.
Background
The background was first underpainted in an even cool dark grey and then painted over with
a grey that is clearly warmer. The gamma spectroscopy evidences the presence of a low
arsenic content (apparently smalt) in all measuring areas of the background. In addition, the
distribution of boneblack in the entire background can be seen in the deep darkening in the
autoradiograph (5th film) due to phosphorus isotopes.
Signature
The painting is unsigned.
Condition
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
The paint layers are severely abraded. Areas with thin paint layers have suffered particularly.
These were abraded down to the canvas. Several areas, for instance the flesh-tone and the
eyes, as a result have a hazy appearance.
A few losses in the paint layer on the lower right of the painting have been filled.
Areas with impasto in the helmet were flattened noticeably due to the lining.
There is considerable blanching in the chest and in areas with red lake or boneblack. Two
types of blanching can be distinguished. In areas with but little smalt (in combination with red
lake or boneblack), whitish blanching occurs on the surface of the paint. In areas containing
a lot of smalt the stronger blanching looks white-yellowish and appears to extend deeper into
the paint layer. Under strong magnification colourless transparent grains can be seen. The
volume of the paint has increased discernibly. In losses a blue paint layer underneath this
blanching is exposed.
Under UV-illumination the retouchings of 1985 can be traced rather well. The background
and the chest, but also the gorget and the flesh-tone, have been retouched particularly
extensively. Colour transitions considered to be pentimenti were covered. The golden helmet
by
contrast
has
remained
almost
entirely
unretouched.
The surface has an uneven appearance with matte to shiny areas.
Comments
The depiction:
The life-size half-length portrait is without a doubt not a portrait in the usual sense. It is much
rather a so-called 'tronie', a portrait-like study of a head or character which concentrates in
particular on the depicted face or head. Although these paintings were generally painted after
a live model, they should not be assigned to the portrait genre.
In fact, the "Man with a Golden Helmet" is a truly exemplary instance of this type of image.
That it cannot be a portrait is already made clear by the shaded face and the lowered gaze.
These characteristics would not have been in accordance with contemporary conventions of
portraiture.4 In addition the model of the old man can be identified several times in various
paintings by Rembrandt's circle. Since tronies often served to demonstrate painterly
virtuosity, the iconographic content often receded to the background. This is also true of the
Berlin painting. The artist without a doubt in this case placed the emphasis particularly on a
convincing depiction of the material qualities, the surface structure and the lighting effects of
the golden helmet. This is the part of the painting that clearly stands out from the rest of the
painting and which was already identified as the "main thing" in the depiction at a rather early
date.5 Painters moreover often used a fashion that had been antiquated long since as a
model or inspiration for the tronies. This kind of historical dressing up can also be identified in
the "Man with a Golden Helmet". Thus the helmet presented is not a contemporary
headgear, but a so-called "spanish morion" from the end of the 16th century.6 The integration
of such historical elements can be counted as an essential characteristic of tronies in
4
see Hirschfelder 2008, p. 129 for more detailed information on this subject.
Bredius 1898/99, p. 192; Bode / Hofstede de Groot 1897-1906, vol. 5 (1901), p. 23, 126, Nr. 356;
Schubring 1905, p. 204.
5
6
Kelch 1986, p. 21.
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
"military dress", the category the Berlin painting also belongs to.7 Within this group, the
attributes of the helmet and gorget presented here as well as the serious expression of the
old man, tend to characterise the figure type of a commander or general.8 The depiction may
indeed possibly be understood as a typification of a personage of an especially elevated
rank, since in this case, besides pieces of armour such as the gorget, additionally a
particularly extensively decorated helmet is presented.9
In the Berlin painting the tronie is no longer a necessary object of study for the creative
process, but rather an autonomous work of art, which served to demonstrate painterly skill.
Within this context the format, which is quite large for a tronie, also starts to make sense.
Condition and restoration history
The painting was probably in a rather bad condition early on, and was restored numerous
times. This nowadays makes it hard to make any definite statements regarding the painting.
Already at the first mention of the painting in 1762 in the catalogue of the auction of the
estate of Kurfürst Clemens August I. (1700-1761), the work is described as "somewhat
damaged".10 At this point in time it still had the dimensions of „deux pieds trois pouces de
hauteur & d’un pied dix pouces de largeur“. The measurements stated in the catalogue
(approx. 73.2 x 59.6 cm, according to the Paris measure) differ from those of the current,
smaller size of the painting (67.5 x 50.7 cm). The Berlin painting, however, was evidently cut
on all four sides at an unknown date. If one takes the measurements in the catalogue as a
basis, these can be connected very convincingly with the depiction of the "Man with a Golden
Helmet" (compare image of reconstruction of the original measurements of the painting). It is
therefore likely that the painting mentioned in the estate of the Kurfürst is the "Man with a
Golden Helmet" in its original format. Presumably the trimming of the support was carried out
in connection with the first lining of the painting in the 19th century.
That the painting must have been restored early on and presumably numerous times, is also
confirmed by severe abrasions on the entire surface of the painting, which can be attributed
to earlier faulty treatment methods using rather harsh cleaning products. Thus the 5th
autoradiograph confirms that the paint application with boneblack for the background is only
present in the recesses of the canvas structure. Moreover, during the restoration of 1985/86
extensive overpainting was found and subsequently removed, which according to their
characteristics were applied in the early 19th and late 18th century. The paint belonging to
this overpainting had accumulated over the original paint, in its craquelee and in its losses. 11
The gold particles distributed unevenly over the entire surface of the painting most likely did
not come onto the painting during the painting process, but rather after a rather long time
period had elapsed. This probably occurred during a varnish removal in the course of which
the original varnish was removed and gold particles could settle on the original paint layer
and in the network cracking.
7
8
9
Hirschberger 2008, p. 214.
Hirschfelder 2008, p. 205.
Hirschfelder 2008, p. 250
Lugt-Nr. 1386, Ketelsen / Stockhausen 2002, vol.2, p. 1306.
11
Pieh 1987, p. 25.
10
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
Evidence that the painting was not in good condition and exhibited clearly visible
overpainting can also be found in a letter from the art dealer René Valadon (Boussod,
Valadon & Cie, Paris) to the erstwhile owner of the painting Eliza de Boccard (“[…] il est
certain qu’il a été retouché et il n’est pas en très bon état. “ letter dated 13th of June, copy of
the letter, documentation of the painting GG). In 1897 Colnaghi sent the painting to the Berlin
restorer Alois Hauser to be restored and cleaned. In his letter to Bode, William McKay
describes the painting as "dark" and a positive result of the treatment as very questionable
(letter dated 24th of July 1897, SMB-ZA, IV NL Bode 3455 McKay 24071897). Hauser after
the cleaning and renewed lining of the painting in 1897 once again carried out large-scale
overpainting, inter alia to cover the bad condition, including severe blanching. Its current
appearance can be traced back to the restoration in 1985/86.
Attribution:
Not least because of its bad condition and the assumable darkening of the painting, which
clearly complicated an assessment, whether or not the work was from Rembrandt's own
hand was already the subject of debate among art conoisseurs in the years before its
acquisition in 1897, and statements on its authenticity were highly problematic. 12
After a long history of debating the attribution to Rembrandt, in 1986, after the extensive
technical and art historical investigation by Jan Kelch, the painting was conclusively written
off as a Rembrandt and attributed to his circle. The results of the latest investigation of the
painting have confirmed the above.
As already described by Jan Kelch in 1986, Rembrandt has particularly in his later work
forcefully structured and modelled the picture plane, yet managed to treat the various parts of
the painting in a considered and interrelated way. In the "Man with a Golden Helmet", by
contrast, a different approach is apparent. In this work, the impastoed modelling of the paint
application of the helmet is in stark contrast to the conspicuously flat and even execution of
the face, garment and ground. Light and dark, modelled and flat and even parts have been
juxtaposed without any transition. Thus for instance the helmet only shows plastic modelling
with plenty of lead white in the illuminated areas, which then ends abruptly at the middle
edge and gives way to a dark, very evenly applied section in the shaded areas. Likewise in
the design of the illuminated areas of the helmet itself the colours have been applied over
and next to one another, yet are not fluidly connected to each other.
This technique is also in evidence in the flesh-tone of the figure. Thus in the "Man with a
Golden Helmet" the face was built up directly on the grey priming with several colours placed
next to one another. For shaded areas, the priming was partially left exposed. Rembrandt's
12
Abraham Bredius was the only one who already advised Bode in 1890 to acquire the painting and
was evidently convinced of its authenticity. Bredius himself, as the director of the Mauritshuis, almost
simultaneously acquired the signed and dated painting "Halffigure of a Man with Grey Curly Hair" from
the Paris art dealer. This painting was at the time considered to be a Rembrandt. Presumably, in spite
of the bad condition of both paintings, he above all perceived the conspicuous correspondences in
motif and painting technique, which led him to recommend that Bode acquire the painting: „Kaufen Sie
doch den schönen Rembrandt mit dem Helm ehe er nach Amerika geht, oder lassen Sie ihn durch
Mad. André kaufen, dann bleibt das Bild wenigstens in Europa.“ [Do buy the beautiful Rembrandt with
the helmet before it goes to America, or make Mad. André buy it, then the painting will at least remain
in Europe.] (letter Bredius to Bode, 3rd of September 1890, SMB-ZA, IV/ NL Bode 1016).
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
characteristic build-up of the flesh-tone in the 50's, by contrast, consisted of a light yellowishgrey underpainting, upon which in a small number of paint applications (which were
nevertheless interconnected) the face was formed. Such an underpainting is not present in
the "Man with a Golden Helmet".
Moreover, the build-up of the flesh-tone using notably little lead white is unusual in
Rembrandt's work. Thus the face of the Man with a Golden Helmet is conspicuously flat and
low in contrast. The brushstrokes in boneblack that are visible on the fifth autoradiograph in
the gorget and shoulder, which show small dots because the brush was stopped several
times, also indicate a rather hesitant approach. This does not tally with the confident
brushwork of the later Rembrandt.
Furthermore, the "Man with a Golden Helmet" shows some weaknesses in the proportional
design of the figure and the way the figure was set up. Thus the rather small head does not
harmonise with the bulky body. The original contour of the body on the right of the painting
can hardly be traced anymore, due to its bad condition and because of several overpaintings.
Nevertheless, the overall design of the upper body was most likely inconsistent with the rest
of the figure. The right shoulder of the man has been turned too far into the picture plane, in
relation to the orientation of the gorget. The right shoulder would hardly have fit harmonically
with the one on the left, which falls down rather flatly in comparison. This may have also
been the reason why at an unknown date the red cloak was added. The pentimento of the
helmet also testifies to the insecurity of the painter in setting up the figure correctly in relation
to perspective.
Upon close inspection the execution of the garment is also hardly comprehensible and
coherent. Due to the bad condition of the painting and the multiple restorations it underwent,
it is however at present hardly possible to get a clear idea of the original make-up of the
clothing.
The highly characteristic use of smalt in the "Man with a Golden Helmet", however, indicates
that the painter must have known about the use of special pigments in Rembrandt's
workshop. Thus in the background dark areas of paint can be seen with large-scale use of
almost colourless smalt mixed with boneblack. This mixture which is typical of Rembrandt as
well as its large-scale distribution over the entire background are especially easy to trace in
the autoradiographs, and is in evidence in several of his later works. In the case of the Berlin
painting one can therefore presume, that the painter must at least have been in contact with
Rembrandt's workshop, more likely however is that he would have temporarily worked there.
It is not possible, even after the latest research, to newly attribute the "Man with a Golden
Helmet" convincingly. Several notable parallels may nevertheless be drawn to the The
Hague painting "Halffigure of a Man with Curly Grey Hair"13. Aside from the fact that the
same old man sat as a model, there are also unmistakable correspondences in painting
technique which until now have been disregarded. The The Hague painting has been signed
with "Rembrandt" and dated "1650". There are however reservations as to the signature,
which has at least in parts been reworked. The attribution to Rembrandt is contested, so it is
now described as "Attributed to Rembrandt".
13
Attributed to Rembrandt, "Halffigure of a Man with Curly Grey Hair" canvas, 80.5 x 66.5 cm,
Mauritshuis, The Hague.
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
Both paintings were already in a bad condition at the time of their purchase in 1890 resp.
1897, and were heavily abraded. They were both restored by Alois Hauser in Berlin. Both
paintings have been painted relatively flatly, in various colours with clearly visible distinct
brushstrokes, and have areas that were left untouched where the grey priming is exposed.
The individual colours were applied almost unadulterated and were juxtaposed in such a way
as to barely create a transition from one colour to the next. The eyes were executed with little
differentiation and without a highlight; they look like dark blotches. The mouth is also painted
in a very comparable fashion, with a very narrow characteristic dividing line.
Based on these correspondences it is likely that the "Man with a Golden Helmet" and the
"Halffigure of a Man with Grey Curly Hair" were made by the same painter, whose name
cannot yet be determined.14 Bode may have also come to the same conclusion, when he saw
the restored "Man with a Golden Helmet" in 1897. After having been able to study the signed
The Hague painting already during or after the restoration by Hauser in 1890/91 in Berlin, he
will at the latest at this point in time have been certain that the Golden Helmet was also a
Rembrandt.
Dating
The first clues for a possible dating can be found in the fact that there are more examples of
the employment of the characteristic model used for the figure of the Man with a Golden
Helmet in other paintings from Rembrandt's circle. From 1650 until 1660 the elderly man with
a walrus moustache and steep creases in his brow shows up multiple times on paintings by
Rembrandt and his circle.15
In addition, as described above, the use of smalt in the background of the painting is in
evidence, which is typical for Rembrandt's later work. The paintings by Rembrandt where
thus far such an employment of this pigment has been identified, were produced in the
period spanning 1655-1663. 16 The artist that made "Man with a Golden Helmet" therefore
had specific knowledge of the painting technique of the later Rembrandt workshop. It is
within this context quite likely that he made the Berlin painting in the fifties of the 17th
century, presumably in Amsterdam.
14
Perhaps a third work should be mentioned within this context. It is a depiction of an old man from
the Pushkin Museum dated 1654. The painting shows the same model and a similar execution of the eyes and
mouth is in evidence. It furthermore leaves the impression as though parts were left untouched as well, for
instance in the right cheek. A detailed comparison of the painting's build-up and of its painting technique is not yet
extant.
15
Compare Bredius 1935, cat. A43, A44, A49, A51; Kelch 1986, p. 20, ill.7- 10, p. 21, ill.11,12; p.22, ill.14,15;
Sumowski 1983-1993, vol.1, no. 131, 345; Leiden 2005/2006, cat. no. 68, 69, 70. Bode was the first to
recognise Rembrandt's brother Adriaen Harmensz. van Rijn in the model. Compare Bode 1891, p.4.
This identification however does not tally with the evidence, since the model inter alia can be
recognised on paintings which were made after Adriaen's death in 1652. Sumowski 1983-1993, vol.1, no.
131, 345.
16
In this context one should mention "Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife" dated 1655 (cat. 828 H), "Young
Woman Leaning at the Door (Hendrickje Stoffels?)" dated 1656/57 (cat. 828 B), "Jacob Wrestling with the Angel"
dated 1659/60 (cat. 828) as well as „Homer“ dated 1663 from the Mauritshuis. On the Homer painting, see A. van
Loon/ P. Noble / J.J. Boon: White Hazes and surface crusts in Rembrandt's Homer and related paintings, in:
ICOMCC Triennial Meeting, Lissabon 2011, p. 6.
Documentation – Summary - August 2014
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Rembrandt Circle – The Man with the Golden Helmet
S.Giering, K. Kleinert, C. Laurenze-Landsberg
This supposition is also supported by the categorisation to the tronie image type.
Rembrandt's influence led to an especially strong blossoming of this type of image, the
production of which declines markedly after 1660 and at the latest in the second half of the
sixties dies out.17 The fact that it is a comparatively large autonomous work of art for this type
of image, is also indicative of it having been produced after 1650.
Conclusion
In contrast to what Bode later let transpire, the evaluation would already have been
considerably hampered in the 19th century due to its bad condition and several older
restorations, which led to its attribution to Rembrandt's hand being quite controversial well
before its acquisition in 1897.
Overall it can now be posited that the painting is not from Rembrandt's own hand, but very
likely was made in Amsterdam in the period spanning 1650-1660. This, as well as the typical
setup of the painting, strongly suggests that it is an autonomous work of art of the tronie type.
The characteristic use of smalt as well as the use of a model that also shows up on other
paintings from Rembrandt's circle also allow for the conclusion, that the painter must have
worked in Rembrandt's workshop or at least must have been in close contact with it.
17
Hirschberger 2008, p. 196-198, 241-244.
Documentation – Summary - August 2014
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