Frick Collection
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REMBRANDT & HIS SCHOOL
REMBRANDT & HIS
SCHOOL: Masterworks from the Frick & the Lugt Collections
Among the many
Masterpieces in the Frick-Collection, Henry
Clay Frick’s Rembrandts have always stood-out. Now,
they are even more prominent, shown together in the Oval-Gallery.
The Self-Portrait is one of the best-known
Rembrandt-Images, but The Polish Rider
& the Portrait of Nicolaes Ruts are also widely admired.
This
impressive Trio is enhanced by Frick’s Portrait
of a Young Artist & Old Woman with a Book.
Although some
had believed these also to be by Rembrandt
van Rijn, the Old Woman is now
ascribed to Carel van der Pluym, with the Young Artist anonymously credited to a "Follower of Rembrandt.”
"School of
Rembrandt” is also a good Pigeon-Hole
for luminous Period-Paintings that may look very much like Rembrandts, but do not quite make the grade.
[Viewing the
current Rembrandt-Exhibition on Valentine’s Day at the Frick, I was
frowned-upon when I innocently asked: "How much did Tuition cost in the School of Rembrandt?”]
The great
canvases almost overwhelm, but the small-scale pen-&-ink studies in the
Lower-Galleries are impressive in their own right.
One of my
favorites is The Martyrdom of a Woman.
This small brown-ink sketch is like an explosion
of bold slashes of Rembrandt’s pen. Four heads can be seen, beside & above
the angry broad strokes of brown ink.
These slashes
suggest Furious-Activity below the
Onlookers, but it is impossible to see the Female-Victim
with any clarity.
It could be
imagined that Rembrandt suddenly changed his mind about depicting this Violent-Crime & crossed it out with
those heavy brown strokes…
What makes
this show so special is that it also offers Rembrandt-Studies
from the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris. This is a
remarkable Archive, not only of Rembrandt sketches, but also of works of some
of his outstanding students & contemporaries.
See how they
all use Light & Shadow for both
Magical & Realistic effects…
If you cannot
come to New York for this exhibition, you will surely want to have the
Magnificent-Catalogue! Even more so, if you actually spend some time with these
Master-Drawings & Masterepieces!
For the Record: Google
now makes it possible for you to visit the Frick in the Privacy of Your Own
Home!
Working with
17 International-Museums—including the Frick,
MoMA, the Met, & the Freer, at
the Smithsonian in DC—its Art-Project
now makes it possible to Zoom-In on
famed Masterpieces in Super-High-Resolution!
You can even
have a Virtual-Museum-Tour!
Glenn Loney