REMBRANDT - ADIEU

Portrait of Arnold Tholinx

Adieu - John Dowland - Rembrandt (Hans Meijer - lute)

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn made twenty-five "Indian drawings," based on miniatures from the Mughal Empire that he saw in a Dutch collection and presumably studied over a long period. Adopting some aspects of the extremely precise manner of these miniatures--so unlike his usual loose, evocative style of draftsmanship--Rembrandt nonetheless enlivened the figures' poses by giving them more sense of action than did the Mughal style.

A contemporary of Rembrandt known for his building campaigns and as a patron of art, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan is recognizable from his characteristic dress and face--and the aureole, which distinguished portrayals of Mughal rulers beginning with his father's reign.

Arnold Tholinx, a well-known physician in Amsterdam, was a brother-in-law of Jan Six, a friend of Rembrandt’s. That is perhaps how the artist came to be commissioned to make this portrait. It is executed with a confident, yet meticulous hand as an etching with drypoint, and it emphasizes Tholinx’s scholarship: he is seated at a table, looking up from his books, still holding his reading glasses.

Arnold Tholinx, een bekende arts in Amsterdam, was een zwager van Jan Six, met wie Rembrandt bevriend was. Dat verklaart misschien hoe de kunstenaar deze portretopdracht kreeg. De voorstelling is vlot maar trefzeker uitgewerkt met ets en droge naald en benadrukt Tholinx’s geleerdheid. Hij zit aan tafel en kijkt op van zijn boek, de leesbril nog in de hand.

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