Images of the Feminine in Rembrandt's Work

by Anat Gilboa

• ISBN13: 9789051669541
• ISBN10: 9051669542
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-01
• Publisher: Eburon Publishers, Delft

Summary

Females are the focus of many significant works by Rembrandt, from mythological heroines to street vendors. Nonetheless, the female image has been an underappreciated aspect of Rembrandt studies. This book examines how Rembrandt's portrayals of women reflect his intense dialogue with pictorial tradition and the cultural climate of seventeenth-century Netherlands. In this intriguing study of Rembrandt's artistic development, Gilboa reveals the artist's uniquely individualized image of the feminine.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	9	(2)
Introduction	11	(10)
Female Figures in Rembrandt's Art: Choosing Themes	21	(28)
Introduction	21	(1)
The Leiden Period (c. 1625-1631)	21	(6)
Early Years in Amsterdam (c. 1632-1640)	27	(8)
The Forties	35	(7)
The Fifties	42	(5)
The Sixties -- Last Years	47	(2)
Mary, the Mother of Christ	49	(22)
Introduction	49	(2)
The Leiden Period	51	(2)
The First Decade in Amsterdam	53	(6)
The 1640s	59	(5)
The 1650s	64	(4)
The Last Decade	68	(1)
Conclusion	69	(2)
Portraits of Women	71	(26)
Introduction	71	(2)
Female Portraiture between 1632 and 1641	73	(15)
Portraits of Women after 1654	88	(7)
Conclusion	95	(2)
The Nude and the Erotic	97	(18)
Introduction	97	(1)
Single Nude Female Figures in Graphic Works	98	(5)
The Nude, the Voyeur and the Myth of Sexual Availability	103	(4)
Erotic Anticipation	107	(2)
Explicit Scenes	109	(4)
Conclusion	113	(2)
Plates	115	(56)
Intimacy and Distance: Saskia and Hendrickje	131	(22)
Introduction	131	(1)
Saskia van Uylenburgh	132	(12)
Geertge Direx	144	(1)
Hendrickje Stoffels	145	(5)
Conclusion	150	(3)
Goddesses and Heroines	153	(18)
Introduction	153	(1)
Static Heroic Figures	154	(5)
Violent Women	159	(4)
Abused Heroines	163	(7)
Conclusion	170	(1)
Conclusion	171	(4)
Abbreviations	175	(2)
Notes	177	(40)
Bibliography	217	(18)
Index	235	(8)
Photo Acknowledgements	243