The Norton Simon Museum presents “The Familiar Face: Portrait Prints by Rembrandt,” an exhibition of 15 etchings by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn (1606‱669), on view through March 22. Rembrandt embraced etching as a means of expression and experimentation.
Culled from the Norton Simon’s extensive collection of Rembrandt prints, the artworks on view offer a window to some of the personalities of Rembrandt’s age.
Although Seventeenth Century Holland had an active trade in the portraits of politicians, heroes and renowned scholars, the majority of portrait prints made by Rembrandt were not intended for such a market, evinced in the lack of characteristic etched captions identifying the name and public role of the subject.
Rembrandt’s portrait of Petrus Sylvius in all likelihood was commissioned as a memento for Sylvius’s friends and family in Amsterdam. Sylvius, a newly ordained preacher, was about to depart for his first ministry in Friesland, in the northern Netherlands. Another work, an etching of Jan Uytenbogaert, “The Goldweigher,” is presumed to have been produced by the artist as an act of gratitude.
Uytenbogaert, the receiver-general (or tax accountant) for the province of Holland, was a collector of prints and drawings, and he hosted many painters and poets in his Amsterdam house. In 1639, he assisted Rembrandt in receiving payment for paintings the artist had completed for Frederick Henry, the Prince of Orange. Perhaps not coincidentally, Uytenbogaert’s portrait etching bears the date 1639.
The Norton Simon Museum is at 411 West Colorado Boulevard. For information, www.nortonsimon.org or 626-449-6840.
