The Week - UK (2020-09-12)

ARTS 35

12 September 2020 THE WEEK

Art

Someartistsseemtoburstinto

thelimelightalmostfullyformed,

saidLauraCumminginThe

Observer.Rembrandt

HarmenszoonvanRijn,alas,

wasnotoneofthem.Theninth

childofamillerfromLeiden,the

youngRembrandtspentthebest

partofadecadefumblingin

thedarkbeforeperfectinghis

technique.Alongtheway,

heproducedscoresof“duff

portraits”and“unfulfilled

drawings”,onlyslowly

transcendingthe“blockish,

crudeandclumsy”effortsthat

characterisehisjuveniliato

becomethemasterwerecognise

today.Thisabsorbingexhibition

attheAshmoleanMuseumin

Oxfordbringstogethermore

than 30 paintingsand 90

drawingstoexaminethedecade

from 1624 (theyearRembrandt

openedhisfirststudioattheage

of18)to 1634 –whenhesettled

inAmsterdamandfinallybegan

toemergeas“anartistof

Shakespeareandimensions”.

Packedwith“unexpected

curiositiesandrarelyseen

masterworks”,thisisanextraordinaryshowthatilluminates

“justhowhardRembrandthadtoworktobecomeRembrandt”.

Nowandagain,we getfascinatinginsightsintoRembrandt’s

progress asanartist, saidFrancescaPeacockon Reaction.life.

Comparingthe famous earlyetchingSelf-PortraitinaCap,Wide-

Eyed and Open-Mouthed(1630)withSelf-PortraitinOriental

AttirewithPoodle(1633),forinstance,we see amarked “artistic

development”thatshows himusinghimselfashisownsubjectto

increasinglysophisticatedeffect.

However,thecurators’fixation

onhisyouthfulmisfiresmeans

thatwedon’tencounteragreat

dealinthewayofvisual

excitement.Thereareahandful

ofmasterpieceshere–Manin

OrientalCostume(“TheNoble

Slav”),from1632,makes“a

dramaticappearance”inthefinal

room,whileJeremiahLamenting

theDestructionofJerusalem

(1630)revealstheyoungartist’s

“capacityforbiblicalthemesand

tragedy”.Overall,though,the

exhibition is“cryingout”for

theinclusionofhislater,

moreaccomplishedworks.

Idisagree,saidJackie

WullschlägerintheFT.This

showispackedwith“unfamiliar

curiositiesand rarelyloaned

glories”.And even inthemost

“unconvincing”paintings,

Rembrandt stillconveysthe

“emotional expressivenessand

humandrama” that single him

outasamaster.Gradually,we

seehowhe harnesseshispotential

tocreatean“unprecedented,

dynamicpictorialand psychological realism”.It’sremarkable

to observehowhe wentfrompaintingspirited, butcrude

pictures,suchas 1624’sTheSpectacles Seller (AllegoryofSight)

to producingdeathlessmasterpieces, inthespaceofadecade.

And bythetimewereachthe finalworkin theexhibition,

the “probing”Portraitofan83-Year-OldWoman(1634),

Rembrandthasdevelopedathrillingsignature style that

remains“unrivalledinarthistory”. It’sastunn ingclimax to

a“revelatory”exhibition.

Exhibition of the week Young Rembrandt

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (01865-278000, ashmolean.org). Until1November

Self-portrait (1629): Rembrandt becoming Rembrandt

News from the art world

Themasterpiecestolenforathird time

Awork by the 17th century Dutch master

Frans Hals has been stolen–for the third time

in 32 years from the same Dutch museum.

Police were alerted toabreak-inatthe Hofje

van Mevrouw van Aerden museum in

Leerdam after its alarm went off in the early

hours of Wednesday 26 August. However, by

the time they arrived at the scene, the thieves

had already disappeared with Hals’s 1626

paintingTwo Laughing Boys withaMug of

Beer,amuch-loved masterpiece, which is

worth some £13m. The theft comes less than

adecade after the painting was recovered in

the wake ofaprevi ousheist at the museum in

2011. It was also stolen duringa1988 break-
      in, after which it was missing for three years.
      Art detective Arthur Brand believes that the
      previous thefts had probably convinced
      the perpetrators that the work “must be
      important”, said The Independent.Two Laughing Boys with a
      Mug of Beerisn’t the only work of art to have been pilfered more
      than once. The famous example is Vincent Van Gogh’s late still
      lifePoppy Flowers,which was stolen fromamuseum in Cairo
      in 1977 and surfaced in Kuwaitadecade later; in 2010, the work
      disappeared again, and has yet to be recovered.

Artificialemperors

If ever you’ve wanted to see Roman

emperors as they might have looked in real

life –from the “unusually handsome”

Augustus to the “malodorous” Nero–now’s

your chance, said Mark Bridge in The Times.

ACanadianweb designer has“harnessed

artificial intelligence to create photorealistic,

full-colour portraits” of every emperor who

reigned from 24BC to AD284, basing them

on “idealised” classical busts as well as

descriptions by contemporary writers.

Daniel Voshart,aToron to-b ased virtual

reality specialist who wanted to occupy

himself after being laid off during the

pandemic, created the eerily lifelike portraits

by feeding images of the busts through an

AI programme, then doctoring the results

on Photoshop. He toned down unrealistic

details and also added his own details based

on texts by authors, including Suetonius. In addition, he derived

certain features from present-day celebrities whose appearance

broadly fits descriptions of the emperors; his Augustus, for

instance, has Daniel Craig’s complexion. “I really thought it was

going to beanich e, artificial intelligence art project,” Voshart

says. But when he posted the results to Twitter, they went viral.

The “unusually handsome” Augustus

©A

LTE PINALOTHEK, MUNICH; DANIEL VOSHART