c

 

Joshua Duncan

Prof. Perschbacher

Art History II

8 April 2010

Two Suppers at Emmaus: the Young and the Old Rembrandt

Two paintings by Rembrandt of the same subject, the Supper at Emmaus, demonstrate

how the artist¶s style evolved as he grew older. At the tender age of twenty-four, Rembrandt

completed his first depiction of the scene, demonstrating his love of high-drama and the

influence of Caravaggio¶s school of painting on his work. The second version was painted

eighteen years later, when Rembrandt was a middle-aged man. The tones are subtler, and the

mood more calming than the melodramatic original.

The story comes from Luke 24, where the risen Christ met two of his followers on the

road to Emmaus, but they did not recognize him. When they arrived at Emmaus, Christ ate

supper with them, where he broke the bread and gave it to them. ³Then their eyes were opened

and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.´1 Rembrandt illustrates this

moment of dawning comprehension in both of his paintings.

Figure 1 Figure 2

 
 
 c

 

The first j

 (Figure 1) was painted in oil during the years 1628-1630, on

a small panel 161/8´ wide and 141/2´ tall.2 Christ is seated at the far right, leaning back in his seat

and looking up slightly. The intense, yellow light source is placed directly behind Christ¶s head,

so that his profile is nearly a silhouette. Because of this, the strongest dark and light values are

centered around Christ. One of the disciples is seated in the center, and recoils in fear at the

sight, his face illuminated by Christ¶s radiance. The second man is hidden in shadow, kneeling at

Christ¶s feet. On the far left, a servant can be glimpsed through an arched doorway, silhouetted

by a secondary light source. A bag is nailed above the first disciple¶s head, creating a triangle

with the nail, Christ, and the servant at the three points. This bag is nailed to a pillar which

frames the first disciple, and a plank of wood in the wall points directly to him. The wood is also

one of several diagonal lines which create a pattern and point attention back to Christ. There are

also diagonal lines in the bag and the stones at the base of the wall, and the second disciple

bowing before Christ reinforces the diagonal movement.

Rembrandt¶s second version of the j

  (Figure 2) painted in 1648 is

almost twice as large as the first, 26´ wide and 27´ high.3 Christ is seated to the left of center

underneath a tall, shadowy arch. Once again, he is looking up, and his head is glowing, though

the light is more diffuse than it is the original. Here, the strongest light source is a window on the

far left. A disciple in dark robes on the left holds his hands together as if he¶s praying, while the

second leans onto his left armrest, slightly distancing himself from Christ. A servant holds a

plate between Christ and the second disciple. Gardener suggests that the two disciples have only

just begun to realize what is happening, while ³the servant is unaware.´4 Some diagonal lines are


·




    



 c

 

present in the composition, such as the tablecloth and the ³V´ shapes created between Christ and

the two disciples. These diagonal lines, however, do not dominate the composition, as they did in

the first version. Vertical lines are much more prevalent in the second j

 ,

moving the eye up briefly, then down to the empty space surrounding Christ. This space calls

attention to his features. As he did in the first version, Rembrandt arranges his figures to create

implied lines pointing towards Christ. The two edges of the table and Christ¶s head form an

equilateral triangle. An earthy red-orange is the predominant color, but the servant wears a dull

green robe, the sleeves of the second disciple are a fairly strong red, and a dark, dull violet robe

hangs in the background. These colors help distinguish the figures from the background, and also

emphasize Christ. The most chromatic yellow is used in Christ¶s face and on the table in front of

him.

Living with his parents in Leiden, Rembrant had already begun to make a name for

himself as an artist in his twenties, and was taking on his first students. In 1628, around the time

Rembrandt began his first j

 an Utrecht humanist named Arnout van Buchel

named wrote in his diary that ³the Leiden miller¶s son [Rembrant] is much praised, but before

his time.´5

Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5



  
 
 c




As a young artist, Rembrandt was inspired ³by Rubens and by the Dutch Caravaggesque

painters like Honthorst.´6 One only need examine Honthorst¶s body of work to see his influence

on the first j

 . First and foremost, Honthorst loved strong chiaroscuro, and often

used warm yellows and rich browns in early paintings such as j
 (Figure 3) in

1615.7 Rembrandt could have been familiar with these paintings in his early youth, and he used

similar colors throughout his career.

During the years Rembrandt painted the first j

 , Gerrit Dou and Isaac

Jouderville worked alongside him in his studio.8 His contemporaries¶ work also suggests that

Honthorst influenced many artists at that time. One painting by Gerrit Dou, 



 (Figure 4) begun around 1630 emulates Honthorst¶s style and depicts a dentist, a subject

Honthorst loved.9 Issac Jouderville painted at least one image, 




(Figure 5), in which the only light source is hidden behind a book.10 Honthorst used this

technique regularly, and the painters of Rembrandt¶s generation would have been familiar with

it.

Honthorst would create a dynamic center of interest by placing a hand or other object in

front of the candle illuminating the scene, putting the darkest shadow directly in front of the

brightest light. He did this in j

in 1620, in two paintings of 
j
 in

1622 and 1623, in    in 1622, and elsewhere throughout his career.11 Rembrandt also

used this device on more than one occasion, including 

 in 1627.12 In


·  
  !j"
, 665
7
·#$

 !


%
8
³R e m b r a n d t v a n R i j n : B i o g r a p h y a n d C h r o n o l o g y ´
9
·
 
‰
 
 
· 


  · 

 c

 

the first j

 , Rembrandt had the innovation to make Jesus¶ head the object

obstructing the light source, making Christ the primary center of interest.

Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8

In addition to the strong contrast of light, a sense of high drama is created by the poses of

the two disciples in the first j

 , which Gardener describes as a ³studied stage

maneuver.´13 Many of the poses in Rembrandt¶s paintings before 1630 are dramatic and

reminiscent of the theater, such as 


j&j
 in 1625 and 



' (Figure 6) in1626. The poses of the disciples in Caravaggio¶s version of 

j

 (Figure 7) in 1601 share this wild energy and may have been studied by

Rembrandt before he painted his own version.14 One disciple spreads his arms wide, while the

other appears to have jerked forward in surprise, gripping the arms of his chair.

Rubens also heavily influenced Rembrandt¶s generation of artists. Gardner credits

Rubens as an artist of international influence and a key figure of the Baroque movement.15 The

dramatic poses of Rembrant¶s figures in the first j

 harken back to Rubens¶

intense figures. For example, Gardner describes Rubens¶ "



(Figure 8)

painted in 1610 as ³a focus of tremendous, straining forces and counterforces, as heavily


·  
  !j"
, 665

 · 

·  
  !j"

 c

 

muscled giants strain to lift the cross«The whole composition seethes with a power that we feel

comes from genuine exertion.´16 Many of Ruben¶s compositions used multiple figures to create

diagonal movement, and Rembrandt also employed diagonal lines in his j

 . In

1630, Rembrandt¶s father died, and the artist spent a year focusing more on his etching than his

painting.17 In 1631, he would begin his move to Amsterdam, so j

 was likely

completed before 1630.

By the time Rembrandt painted the second j

 in 1648, his first wife had

died, and he was in the midst of a legal dispute with his former mistress, Geertge Dircx.

Hendrickje became his new lover, but within a few years, Rembrandt¶s mounting debt would

come crashing down on him.18 In the midst of this personal struggle, Rembrandt¶s work was

starting to look very different from his early paintings. When Gardner discusses the change in

Rembrandt¶s style, it is compared with Velázquez¶s development:

«the artist¶s use of light is one of the hallmarks of his style. Rembrandt¶s
pictorial method involved refining light and shade into finer and finer nuances
until they blended with one another. Earlier painters¶ use of abrupt lights and
darks gave way to gradation in the work of artists such as Rembrandt and
Velázquez.19

Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11


·  
  !j"


  
 

·


 
   

  

 c

 

Indeed, Velázquez¶s style in both his early and late career mirrors Rembrandt¶s. For

example, Velázquez¶s early work 



 (Figure 9) in 1619 employs strong

chiaroscuro. During the same years Rembrandt painted the second j

 ,

Velázquez worked on  (Figure 10) from 1644-1648 and ( ) (Figure 11) in

1650.20 These later works use such gentle tones, they seem to have been painted by a different

artist.||

Figure 12

Rembrandt¶s softening of values is not the only change which makes the second j



 far calmer than the original. The more muted color scheme is also more serene.

Rembrandt may well have been influenced by older Rennaisance artists such as Giorgione da

Castelfanco. An instructor of Titian, Giorgione painted calm, country-settings, such as  



j

 (Figure 12) in 1508, which employs soft light and shadow, muted color, and relaxed

figures.

Each of the disciples in Rembrandt¶s first j

 has a direct counterpart in

the second, suggesting that Rembrandt took the first into consideration as he designed his new


· 


 c

 

version. In each, one disciple responds to Christ by leaning away in surprise, while the other

responds by worship Christ. The body language and facial expressions of the figures in each

version affects the mood of the whole piece. In the first, the only face which can be clearly made

out is one of the disciples, with eyes wide and mouth agape, his shoulders hunched. His

counterpart in the second version appears only mildly surprised. Also, compare the facial

expression of the disciple in the first version with Christ¶s in the second: Christ¶s eyebrows are

raised slightly, but his eyelids are lowered. He tilts his head slightly, and it feels as though he is

exhaling, just before he fades away. Gardner believes Rembrandt is portraying the ³humanity

and the humility of Jesus.´21 In the early j

 , a disciple worships Christ by

bowing at his feet, but he seems just as afraid as his friend. This disciple¶s counterpart in the late

version of the painting simply holds his hands in prayer, and he has not turned his face away

from Christ. There is no hint of terror or dread in the second version.

(Figure 13) (Figure 14)


·  
  !j"
, 665
 c

 

If the two depictions of the j

 are not enough to demonstrate

Rembrandt¶s dramatic development of his style, one need only look at his other work during the

different time periods. Even the artist¶s drawings and etchings reveal that in his twenties, he was

interested in strong chiaroscuro and dramatic facial expressions and poses. A whole series of

self-portraits which he etched between 1628 and 1631 use sharp divisions between shadow and

light.22 In his twenties, Rembrandt etched j

*
!  (Figure 13) capturing an

intense scowl.23 Eighteen years later, in 1648, he completed his final etched self-portrait (Figure

14), and his calm face seems to glow because of the full range of tones he was able to etch into

the copper.24

(Figure 15) (Figure 16)

There was even another Biblical scene Rembrandt painted in his twenties which he

revisited nineteen years later. He depicted a story from the apocrypha, 

  (Figure

15) in 1626, giving his figures exaggerated facial expressions that border on comical. In 1645,



  
  
 !!   

 !#) ! *
 *  *  

+  

 
 c



his growth is evident in 

 ·
(Figure 16), with its rich atmosphere, its

interesting, somber colors, and its figures dark expressions. This same mood is employed in the

second version of j

 .

Rembrandt¶s first j

 is not inferior to his later work, but it certainly has a

distinct aesthetic quality. The composition is dynamic and exciting to examine. The silhouette of

Christ is hauntingly beautiful, and all the figures brim with tension. However, Rembrandt¶s later

work sets him apart from his predecessors like Honthorst. By showing more of the subtle

variations between the darkest shadows and the brightest highlights, his later paintings and

etchings gain more three-dimensional depth. As Rembrandt was nearing the end of his life, the

next Dutch master, Vermeer, was completing some of his most enduring works such as 



( (Figure 17) in 1665 and · (Figure 18) in

1666&,-These works carry on the tradition of subtler, more naturalistic painting, as opposed to

the grand, masculine energy that characterized the Baroque period. It was Rembrandt¶s later

style, embodied in works like the second j

 , that had the greatest influence on

the next generation of artists.

(Figure 17) (Figure 18)


· 


 c



Bibliography

·  

  !j"
. Ed. de la Croix, Horst and Richard G.

Tansey. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980.

·  

  ! ·
$ 
!
&Ed. Kleiner, Fred S.

United States: Thomson Wadsworth, 2009.

·#$

 !


% . 5 April 2010 <http://www.gerrit-van-

honthorst.org/>.

. ·. 5 April 2010 <http://www.abcgallery.com/index.html>.

    . 5 April 2010 <http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/

0f5B_oyud7S5rGRDTZ6zjg>.

·
 . 5 April 2010 <http://www.wga.hu/index.html>.

³Rembrandt van Rijn: Biography and Chronology.´ #)! *
 *

 *   +  

 . 4 April 2010

<http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/index.htm>.



 
. Ed. Schwartz, Gary. New York: Dover, 1994.

$
'!/0
# 
. 5 April 2010 <http://www.biblegateway.com/>.
 c

 

Self-portrait staring, done 1630, shows big emotion series of three

Old begger with a gourd, and old man looking down left, show strong black and white

contrast.

1626, Tobit accuses his wife, theatrical

1627, parable of the rich man, hidden candle light

1630, raising of Lazarus, eye brows and hand raised,

1645, Tobit again, did Rembrandt start revisiting old subjects in his middle age?

1648, beggers receiving alms at door of a house

Rembrandt¶s development:

Luke 24 Supper at Emmaus

Honthorst¶s 1623 Prodigal son has disguised light source and similar subject to what Rembrandt
did in 1635

Also, the dentist in 1622, and Young drinker, the denial of saint peter

Rubens, Caravaggio, and Dutch Caravaggesque painters like Honthorst, his supper party

Development, Velazquez, Giorgione or Titian