PLANTS
AND
GARDENS
Fast Trees
IN CONTRAST TO THE QUIET, formal detail of other drawings
in this chapter, these powerful fast trees enact the actions
of plants. Each tree reaches out and holds its landscape with
dynamism and pulse. In both drawings we find testament
to the inexorable energy of growth.
Rembrandt expresses a delicate quickness. Gentle lines
draw a warm breeze through this remote wooded garden.
Rustling in a loose foliage of soft marks, his pen evokes the
weight of abundant activity on this late summer's day.
Mondrian's arch of scratching branches is drawn with
such force it will always be alive. We can still feel his hand
storming across the paper. Set within a frame of smudged
landscape, the tree possesses a musical agitation. This
characteristic will increase in the artist's later abstract
work. Here, we see a punctuated ordering of space. Sharp
branches cut out negative shapes of winter sky.
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN
Dutch painter; etcher; and draftsman. Rembrandt's prolific
output comprises oil paintings of historical and religious
subjects together with group and self- portraits. His
emotive etchings and pen and ink drawings (see also
p. 174) are great resources for artists learning to
understand the potential of these media.
Horizon Pen and ink lines describing foliage also tell
us the directions of sunlight and wind. An arc crossing the
bottom of the drawing from one side to the other supports
the scene and separates us from the landscape beyond.
Compare Rembrandt's arc to that of Mondrian's. and note
the similar treatment of low horizons in both works
emphasizing the height and dominance of trees.
Cottage Among Trees
1648-50
63 / 4 x 121 / 8 in (I7I x 308 mm)
REMBRANDTVAN RIJN