Painting with theater and the magic of chiaroscuro
The ultimate action portrait of the Night Watch
Sculpting with thick paint and the secret of impasto
The ultimate selfie diary of a Dutch master
YOUR GOAL
Master of Rembrandt and the art of the spotlight
suaz While other artists favored smooth surfaces, Rembrandt applied thick globs to make highlights on jewelry and foreheads reflect actual room light.
suaz Secret lead-white chemistry helped Dutch artists make ordinary people look like royalty.
suaz Swipe thick paint layers to discover how Rembrandt made ordinary people look like royalty.
Thick paint warning: A biography of Rembrandt written shortly after his death claimed that his paintings were so thick with impasto that you could literally pick them up by the nose of the portrait!
A painting technique where paint is applied thickly to a canvas, leaving visible brush or palette knife marks. In 1634, Rembrandt mixed lead oxide into his oil to create this texture for Marten Soolmans's portrait.
How does Rembrandt's impasto technique physically interact with the light in a gallery?
suaz The Illusion of Distance
Fading into cool tones makes the distance grow, Thick and heavy highlights make the foreground glow.
What does the Italian word 'impasto' literally mean in the context of paint application?
What rare lead mineral did scientists discover in Rembrandt's thick paint recipe in 2019?
What tool did an aging Rembrandt increasingly use instead of a traditional paintbrush to apply thick paint?
How did Rembrandt expect viewers to look at his highly textured, late-career paintings?