The Learned Eye: Regarding Art, Theory, and the Artist's Reputation

Book Description:

Artists of the seventeenth century were known not just for their skill with a brush and canvas, but also for their knowledge of history, poetry, and literature—what was referred to as an oculus eruditus or "learned eye." Rembrandt, for example, was known during his lifetime for mixing his own colors and for his seemingly "rough" and unique manner of texturing his works. He was not simply an artist; he was a teacher and a salesman too—his etchings were hugely popular with his contemporaries.

Rembrandt's "learned eye," his understanding of both the methods and the reality of being an artist, is also visible in the work and lives of other masters like Anthony van Dyck, Frans Hals, and Nicholas Poussin. Contributors to The Learned Eye examine their visions, as well as those of other, more modern artists, all dedicated to the interdisciplinary fields of art, art history, curation, and restoration. Dedicated to the leader of the Rembrandt Research Project, Ernst van de Wetering, The Learned Eye is a superb overview of the artist at work and an exquisite argument for creative and expansive art scholarship.


About the Authors:

The editors and contributors are friends, colleagues, and pupils of Ernst van de Wetering.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction

"The Learned Eye"
Thijs Weststeijn

"Biography of Ernst van de Wetering"
Thijs Weststeijn

Part I: The Work of Art

"In the Beginning There Was Red"
Karin Groen

"The Use of Wood in Rembrandt's Workshop. Wood Identification and Dendrochronological Analyses"
Peter Klein

"Rembrandt's Drawing The Raising of the Cross in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston"
Egbert Haverkamp Begemann

"The Portrait of Theodorus Schrevelius"
Martin Bijl

Part II: The Rules of Art

"The Contours in the Paintings of the Oranjezaal, Huis ten Bosch"
Margriet van Eikema Hommes

"Aelbert Cuyp's Innovative Use of Spatial Devices"
Anna Tummers

"Colour Symbolism in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting"
Arthur Wheelock

"Rembrandt and Rhetoric. The Concepts of affectus, enargeia and ornatus in Samuel van Hoogstraten's Judgement of His Master"
Thijs Weststeijn

Part III: The Artist's Reputation

"'A Record and Memorial of his Talents for Posterity': Anthony van Dyck's Sketch of the Garter Procession"
Christopher Brown

"'Das Werk erdacht und cirkulirt'. The Position of Architects at the Court of King Ferdinand I of Bohemia and His Son, Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria"
Madelon Simons

"Crossing the Wall of History. Etienne Delecluze on the Art and Morality of Jacques-Louis David"
Mariette Haveman

"Goltzius, Painting and Flesh; or, Why Goltzius Began to Paint in 1600"
Eric Jan Sluijter

Part IV: Painters, Patrons and Art-Lovers

"'Pour mon honneur et pour vostre contentement': Nicolas Poussin, Paul Freart de Chantelou and the Making and Collecting of Copies"
Michiel Franken

"Gerard de Lairesse and Jacob de Wit in situ"
Walter Liedtke

"'The Painter he findes at his Easill at worke'"
Henk van Os

Bibliography of Ernst van de Wetering

About the Authors

Index of Names