Description:
Man standing with cane in elegant clothes and a feathered hat
Label Text:
Unlike many of his contemporaries Rembrandt did not travel abroad to find inspiration for his more exotic paintings and prints; Amsterdam, his hometown, provided him with a wealth of willing and interesting foreign subjects. By 1630 Amsterdam was a bustling port town renowned for its important world trade. With its practical mercantile mentality it was also a relatively tolerant place that harbored people of different religions, cultures, and political beliefs who had been persecuted in their homelands. Not only was Rembrandt intrigued by alien customs and foreign faces, his interest and knowledge of exotic lands was further extended through the large collection of Persian prints, miniatures, costumes, and curiosities he purchased from the many merchants traveling to Amsterdam during the period.
It is for this reason that Rembrandt scholars have had a difficult time deducing fact from fiction in his depictions of exotic subjects. While most of these figures, particularly in his biblical representations, were models dressed up in exotic garb, some are depictions of people he might have seen in his neighborhood or designs copied from Persian miniatures. In his print The Persian the somewhat corpulent and at first glance authentic looking “Persian” is wearing clothes that cannot be placed in any historical context. It is therefore most likely a masterful fabrication from Rembrandt’s exotic treasure chest. The surroundings, drawn in his signature loose sketchy style, however, are not particularly exotic, and a closer look reveals to the right of the subject two figures standing beside a little Dutch farmhouse. (hkdv)
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1953.84 |
