Universität Wien
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080006 SE The Late Rembrandt: Old-Age Style as a Break with Tradition (2025S)

10.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 8 - Kunstgeschichte und Europäische Ethnologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Fr 07.03. 10:45-12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20

Details

Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Friday 14.03. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 21.03. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 28.03. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 04.04. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 11.04. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 02.05. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 09.05. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 16.05. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 23.05. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 30.05. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 06.06. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 13.06. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 20.06. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20
  • Friday 27.06. 10:45 - 12:15 Seminarraum 2 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte UniCampus Hof 9 3F-EG-20

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Rembrandt's late work has little to do with the aesthetic conventions of the 17th century. It was above all the coarse application of colour in the paintings, which exhibit a dense materiality, that caused offence. From a biographical point of view, his personal bankruptcy (1656) and his wild marriage to Hendrickje Stoffels were the main reasons for his lack of commissions. While early art historians largely rejected this style of painting, painters such as Vincent van Gogh passionately adored this artistically radical late style, which can be dated to roughly between 1651 and his death (1669). On this basis, the course asks whether the cause of a comprehensive artistic change in the late work of the paintings, drawings and prints is primarily biographical or whether other reasons play an important role. Rembrandt is by no means a special case here, as a look at the late works of Titian, Goethe, Beethoven or Monet shows. Here the question arises as to whether the last years of his creative life (often referred to as ‘old age style’) reveal the true core of a creative person in view of his approaching death, or whether they are rather associated with risky special paths that primarily serve desires to experiment.
In recent years, Rembrandt research, which is now extremely diverse, has provided various answers to the idiosyncratic phenomenon of ‘Rembrandt’ and presented many interesting methodological approaches to stylistic, iconological and art-sociological topics. The questions based on these approaches will be presented in the seminar by means of studies of major works from the painter's late phase. Precise analyses of the works and a critical reception of the research literature are at the forefront of the presentations and the papers.
The introductory units of the course are a preparation for the presentations. The images of the introductory units and the presentation topics as well as selected text pdfs will be found on moodle.

Presentation topics:

1 Self-portrait as St Paul the Apostle, 1661, Painting, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum

2 Self-portrait at the age of 63, 1669, Painting, London, The National Gallery

3 Aristotle with the Bust of Homer, 1653, Painting, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

4 Sog. Alexander the Great, 1655, Painting, Glasgow, Glasgow Museums

5 Homer, 1663, Painting, The Hague, Mauritshuis

6 Bathing woman, 1654, painting, London, The National Gallery (Brown / Kelch / Thiel 1991, no. 40)

7 Flora, c. 1657, painting, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Brown / Kelch / Thiel 1991, no. 41)

8 The Slaughtered Ox, 1655, painting, Paris, Louvre

9 Faust, c. 1652, etching (Bevers / Schatborn / Welzel 1991, no. 33)

10 Jupiter and Antiope, 1659, etching (Bevers / Schatborn / Welzel 1991, no. 40)

11 The Raising of the Daughter of Jairus, second half of the 1650s, pen and brush drawing, Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Kupferstichkabinett (Bevers / Schatborn / Welzel 1991, no. 36)

12 The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Deyman (Deijman), 1656, painting, Amsterdam, Amsterdam Museum (Brown / Kelch / Thiel 1991, no. 44)

13 The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis, 1661/1662, painting, Stockholm, National Museum

14 The Presentation in the Temple (in a dark manner), 1654, etching

15 Jesus discussing with the scholars in the temple, 1654, etching

16 The Entombment of Christ, c. 1654, etching

17 Abraham's Sacrifice, 1655, etching and drypoint (Bevers / Schatborn / Welzel 1991, no. 39)

18 Moses presenting resp. destroying the Tablets of the Law, 1659, painting, Berlin, Staatliche Museen (Brown / Kelch / Thiel 1991, no. 46)

19 St Matthew the Evangelist, 1661, painting, Paris, Musée du Louvre (Brown / Kelch / Thiel 1991, no. 47)

20 Return of the Prodigal Son, c. 1666-1669, painting, St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum

Assessment and permitted materials

- Active participation in discussions
- presentation
- Consolidation in the form of a written term paper (approx. 40,000 characters of continuous text)
- By registering for this course, you agree that the automated plagiarism checking software Turnitin will check all the written assignments you submit in moodle.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Minimum requirement:
- Compulsory attendance. In the event of absence due to illness or exceptional family circumstances, written proof must be submitted.
- For a positive completion of the course, all partial performances must be completed.
- Seminar paper: To ensure good scientific practice, the course instructor may invite students to a grade-relevant discussion after submission of the paper, which must be completed positively.
Assessment criteria:
- Active participation in discussions 15%
- Paper and presentation 30%
- Consolidation in the form of a written term paper 55%

Examination topics

The examination material is the content of the course.

Reading list

Richard Hamann, Der Altersstil Rembrandts, Goethes, Beethovens, in: ders., Der Impressionismus in Leben und Kunst, Köln 1907, S. 223–247

Georg Simmel, Rembrandt. Ein kunstphilosophischer Versuch, Leipzig 1916

A. Heppner, "Moses zeigt die Gesetzestafeln” bei Rembrandt und Bol, in: Oud Holland 52 (1935), S. 241–251

Kurt Bauch, ,,Ikonographischer Stil“ – Zur Frage der Inhalte in Rembrandts Kunst, in: ders., Studien zur Kunstgeschichte, Berlin 1967, S. 123–151

Christian Tümpel, Studien zur Ikonographie der Historien Rembrandts, in: Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 20 (1969), S. 107–198

Gordon Edward Steele, Rembrandt’s Homer in the Mauritshuis, Diss. University of British Columbia 1973

Carl Nordenfalk, The Batavians’ Oath of Allegiance: Rembrandt’s only monumental painting, Stockholm 1983

Joseph Leo Koerner, Rembrandt and the Epiphany of the Face, in: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 1986, Nr. 12, S. 5–32

Svetlana Alpers, Rembrandt als Unternehmer. Sein Atelier und der Markt, Köln 1989 (Chicago 1988)

H. Perry Chapman, Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Identity, Princeton 1990

Otto Pächt, Rembrandt, hrsg. von Edwin Lachnit, München 1991 (2. Aufl. ebd. 2005)

Holm Bevers, Peter Schatborn und Barbara Welzel: Rembrandt. Der Meister und seine Werkstatt. Zeichnungen und Radierungen, Ausstellungskatalog, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, London, The National Gallery, München u.a. 1991

Christopher Brown, Jan Kelch und Pieter van Thiel, Der Meister und seine Werkstatt. Gemälde, Ausstellungskatalog, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, London, The National Gallery, München u.a. 1991

Christopher Brown und Ashok Roy, Rembrandt’s Alexander the Great', in: The Burlington Magazine 134 (1992), Nr. 1070, S. 286–298

Jan Leja, Rembrandt’s Woman bathing in a stream, in: Simiolus 24 (1996), Nr. 4, S. 320–327

Simon Schama, Rembrandts Augen, Berlin 2000

Michael Zell, Encountering difference: Rembrandt’s Presentation in the Dark Manner, in: Art History 23 (2000), Nr. 4, S. 496–521

Thea Vignau-Wilberg, Rembrandt auf Papier. Werk und Wirkung. Rembrandt and his Followers. Drawings from Munich. Mit einem Beitrag von Peter Schatborn, Ausstellungskatalog, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München; München Alte Pinakothek; Amsterdam Museum het Rembrandt, München 2001

Michael Zell, Reframing Rembrandt. Jews and the Christian Image in Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam, Berkeley 2002

Christiane Häslein, Am Anfang war das Wort. Das Ende der »stommen schilderkonst" am Beispiel Rembrandts, Weimar 2004

Ausstellungskatalog Das Zeitalter Rembrandts, Albertina Wien, Ostfildern 2009

Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat, Das Sichtbare und das Unsichtbare. Zur holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts, Köln-Weimar-Wien 2009

Werner Busch, Rembrandts späte Zeichnungen mit der Rohrfeder – ein für die Veranschaulichung ungeeignetes Mittel?, in: Gyburg Radke-Uhlmann und Arbogast Schmitt (Hrsg.), Anschaulichkeit in Kunst und Literatur: Wege bildlicher Visualisierung in der europäischen Geschichte, Berlin 2011, S. 273–300

Ausstellungskatalog Der späte Rembrandt, The National Gallery London, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, München 2014

Nicola Suthor, Rembrandts Rauheit. Eine phänomenologische Untersuchung, Paderborn 2014

Marianne Koos, Verkörperung – Entkörperung bei Rembrandt, in: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 80 (2017), Nr. 3, S. 349–391

Ausstellungskatalog Rembrandts graphische Welt. Experiment. Wettstreit. Virtuosität, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Köln 2019

Alison McNeil Ketering, After life: Rembrandt’s Slaughtered ox, in: Artibus et historiae 40 (2019), Nr, 79, S. 267–286

Rembrandts Strich, Ausstellungskatalog, hrsg. von den Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Stephanie Buck, Jürgen Müller und Mailena Mallach, Dresden 2019

Jürgen Müller, „So ist die Seele wie die Hand“. Rembrandts Aristoteles mit der Büste des Homer, Heidelberg 2021

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Tu 28.01.2025 11:25