Rembrandt -- The Master Conquers Edinburgh

"What a coarse rugged Way of Painting's here,

Stroaks upon Stroaks, Dabbs upon Dabbs appear."

So wrote the English author John Elsum in 1700, musing on An Old Man's Head, by Rembrant, as he spelled it. Those Stroaks and Dabbs have been fascinating the British for almost four centuries, as an enticing exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh demonstrates with a stunning array of canvases, drawings and etchings. So many of the works in Rembrandt: Britain's Discovery of the Master have a fascinating story to tell. You'll find anecdote, mystery and drama aplenty, with a touch of forgery and plagiarism thrown in along the way. It's excellently presented, with really informative wall descriptions and plenty of space to appreciate what's on display. 

What about the Old Man's Head? Well, the verse accompanies this Portrait of an Elderly Man, painted by Rembrandt in 1667, a picture that spent centuries in Britain but is now back home in the Netherlands, part of the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague. A Stroak here, a Dabb there, and you have a quintessential late Rembrandt portrait. 

Pictures by Rembrandt first crossed the North Sea in 1633, when three were presented to Charles I. Like the Elderly Man, some have since left these shores, but Britain's the country outside the Netherlands that has been most receptive to Rembrandt down the years and has the second-largest assembly of his works after his homeland. 

Two of the paintings the curators have brought back -- in this case from Boston -- are the only portraits Rembrandt made of English-based sitters. Reverend Johannes Elison was a minister for the Dutch Reformed Church in Norwich, portrayed in 1634 on a visit to his son in Amsterdam, a successful merchant.

His wife, Maria Bockenolle, is wearing an English hat, but that's the only clue as to where she lived. 

Did Rembrandt ever visit England? He made drawings of St Albans, London and Windsor, but there's no evidence he actually saw the sights in person. According to one 18th-century report, the painter spent 18 months in Hull in 1661-62, but make of that what you will.  

In any case, Rembrandt's work, primarily his etchings, was familiar in 17th-century Britain. When a portrait of Fabian Smith, Agent for the English Merchants to the Emperor of Muscovia, was lost, presumably in the Great Fire of London, no one could remember what Smith looked like. The unknown artist who painted the replacement simply borrowed the image from a Rembrandt etching of a Bearded Man in a Velvet Cap with a Jewel Clasp. Including the cap and the clasp. You can compare the two works in the exhibition.

In the 18th century, appreciation for Rembrandt broadened, and the biggest of the six rooms in this show is filled, gloriously, with paintings that arrived over the course of those 100 years. Is the trompe l'oeil Girl at a Window from Dulwich an actual portrait, or just a demonstration by the master of his own skill? The story went that Rembrandt put this picture in his own window, and passers-by mistook her for a real girl. 

The centrepiece of this main room is one of those pictures that captures the drama of Rembrandt's work so beautifully: Belshazzar's Feast from the National Gallery in London, his interpretation of the Old Testament story of the writing on the wall. Shock, horror, astonishment in those eyes, faces and gestures. And then that disembodied hand writing its fiery text...

There's drama of a different sort in The Mill, silhouetted against a stormy sky on an outcrop above a river. Back in Britain for this show from Washington, this painting was a cause celebre when the Marquess of Lansdowne sold it to a American businessman in 1911 for the colossal sum of £100,000. The most distinguished Rembrandt export of the time, Wilhelm von Bode, called it "the greatest picture in the world". Lord Lansdowne had offered it to the National Gallery for £95,000, but the gallery couldn't raise the funds. Questions were asked in Parliament. 

One of the biggest 18th-century British collectors of Rembrandt was the first president of the Royal Academy, Joshua Reynolds. There are a couple of Reynolds portraits -- of himself and his assistant, Giuseppe Marchi -- in a Rembrandt style here, but ironically Reynolds preferred the Italians. He reworked several Rembrandt paintings that he owned and criticised Rembrandt in his RA lectures for being more interested in the light than the objects he depicted. This one, A Man in Armour, was decried by Reynolds as "too black".

Two rooms deal with the craze for Rembrandt's drawings and prints in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The marks made by prominent owners could add to the value of such works. The London dealer Samuel Woodburn acquired a drawing of the Amsteldijk near Meerhuizen in 1833 and applied the mark of Sir Thomas Lawrence (he was selling the portrait painter's collection), even through Lawrence had died three years earlier.

The artist Benjamin Wilson tricked the connoisseur William Hudson into buying what Hudson thought was a rare and valuable Rembrandt print, Landscape with a Road and Two Houses in the Centre. In fact Wilson had made it himself, and he exposed the hoax at a dinner party in Hudson's presence, serving a roast decorated with multiple impressions of the image.

It's fair to say that the later rooms in the show don't quite keep up the early thrill level. There's some dreadful Victorian kitsch in the 19th-century section, in the shape of Sir John Gilbert's depiction of Rembrandt's Studio, now in York. Obviously a winning theme, though: There's another in Burnley.

As we leave the show, it's time to get modern and contemporary artists' takes on Rembrandt. His Woman Bathing in a Stream from the National Gallery is framed by homages by Leon Kossoff, all textured as you might expect, and by Frank Auerbach, perhaps less predictably in felt-tip pen and correction fluid.

The best thing in this final section is Jacob Epstein's sculpture of Albert Einstein. Epstein's modelling technique has echos of Rembrandt's brushwork, but there's something more. Einstein's "glance contained a mixture of the humane, the humorous, and the profound," Epstein said. "This was a combination that delighted me. He resembled the ageing Rembrandt."

Practicalities

Rembrandt: Britain's Discovery of the Master runs until October 14 at the Scottish National Gallery and is open daily from 1000 to 1700 and until 1900 on Thursdays. Tickets can be booked online here: They cost £13.50 to £15 full-price, but only £10 before 1100 or after 1600, so go early, because you'll need more than just an hour. The Scottish National Gallery is on The Mound, just off Princes St and just a few minutes' walk from Waverley Station.

Lots more Rembrandt coming up

Next year is Rembrandt year in the Netherlands, marking the 350th anniversary of his death. Read all about the range of exhibitions that are planned, starting this autumn, here.

Images

Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of an Elderly Man, 1667, Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands
Rembrandt van Rijn, Reverend Johannes Elison, 1634, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

Rembrandt van Rijn, Girl at a Window, 1645, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Mill, 1645/1648, National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA
Rembrandt van Rijn, A Man in Armour (‘Achilles’), 1655, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Glasgow Life (Glasgow Museums) on behalf of Glasgow City Council
Jacob Epstein, Albert Einstein, 1933, National Galleries of Scotland. © Estate of Jacob Epstein. Photographer: Antonia Reeve