Rembrandt Jewish?
There is a myth surrounding famous Dutch painter Rembrandt: that he secretly converted to Judaism.
Was the Dutch 17th century master Rembrandt, a Jew? In the last of a series of exhibitions marking the artist’s 400th birthday, the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam sets out to examine the myth of the painter’s Jewish links.
The answer: no.
The exhibition mercilessly demolishes the myth. It retraces the history of the “Jewish quarter”, which in Rembrandt’s day in the 17th century was the “artists quarter.” His portraits are of ….priests, with beards, wearing skullcaps and reading Hebrew texts with their almond-slit eyes.And what about his “Moses and the Tables of Law”?
“If Rembrandt had really painted with the help of a rabbi, he would not have let through the spelling mistakes in the Hebrew text,” suggests van Voolen.
What about Rembrandt’s Christ painted from a model met at the synagogue? Not true: archives have enabled historians to establish that the picture was painted according to a description made up by a medieval monk.
Even the celebrated canvas, “The Jewish Bride” is not spared close scrutiny. Does it really portray a Jewish couple? According to art historians, it recounts an episode in the Old Testament when Jefta promised God, while fighting the Ammonites, that he would sacrifice the first person he met after the battle — which turned out to be his daughter.
Personally, I could not care less about his religion. The only thing I care about is that he was a magnificent painter, one of the best the world has ever seen… and that he was Dutch.
We, the Dutch, are proud of our rich cultural history. We brought forth some of the greatest artists and free-thinkers in the history of mankind, especially during our ‘Golden Era’.
We are proud of it and we should be proud of it.
However, I cannot help but consider it to be a sad thing as well: sure we enriched mankind with works of art and philosophy 200 – 400 years ago… but what about the now? What about today?
Where are our great artists, philosophers, statesmen, writers and scientists today? Besides Ayaan Hirsi Ali, where are they?
As Michael Stickings would say… will the new Dutch hero please stand up, please stand up.
15 Responses to “Rembrandt Jewish?”
I can’t help you with your today question. But don’t forget, many economic historians consider the Netherlands the first true capitalist country.
They had the first full-time stock exchange, and of course, the first example of a speculative run on the market: the famous Dutch tulip mania.
Ack, no that is all true and good but…
what are we the first in today?
Get my drift?
The only person I can think of is Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but that’s it. Instead of being a safe haven for free thinkers like we once were, we are now more famous for our wooden shoes (nobody wears them here but okay) than anything else.
There may soon be a chance for the Dutch to be heroic. I hope to see soon the entire ‘Bush cabal’ on trial for crimes against peace and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
If I were the new president in 2009, I’d glefully extradite the lot of them, but some authoritarians in the USA would want to go to war to keep them from being tried in that court.
If any of those folks end up on trial at the ICC, there’s likely to be a tense face-off, at least. I hope the Dutch would say, “Don’t you dare,” and the rest of the world would back them up.
(I remember hearing that “Dutch” doesn’t include all the people who live in The Netherlands. Is that correct, and does it matter?)
I think there is a dearth of free thinkers world wide. Or let me phrase that better, free thinkers who are able to have a profound influence. Why that is, I’m not sure.
And what? Everyone doesn’t wear wooden shoes?
Short answer: the Dutch are no longer a major world power.
BYG: i do not think that your answer is correct. Well, it is a correct statement, but no the right answer to my questions.
Philosophers, scientists, authors, artists, thinkers do not need to live in a superpower. They need good education and a society in which they can be the best they can be.
I think that it is related to calvinism actually. The ‘act normal, if you’re acting normal you’re already acting crazy enough as it is’ attitude.
I think this is a really intriguing question, Michael, and it clearly relates to your concerns a few weeks back about the Nobel Prize dominance of America. I don’t have any idea of the answer, but I’ve got some thoughts.
1) I think being in a very powerful or wealthy country does indeed make it more likely to produce “great thinkers” of great fame. Some occupations really are tied to facilities. If you are a physicist, you can’t make astounding discoveries about sub-atomic particles using a supercollider unless you have regular access to a supercollider. Same thing with the Hubble telescope or the ones on Mauna Kea. Similarly, some work on genetics currently involves massive banks of supercomputers. If there’s only one such facility in the Netherlands, it’s going to limit what people can do. This clearly isn’t the case for all fields, such as painting and philosophy. But, as far as painting goes, while I would like to think that the Metropolitan and MOMA and other world famous museums politely assess all art being created around the world, in reality, I bet that if you live in New York, it helps – at least in being discovered. In other fields, Dutch scientists are making an impact. My own field is linguistics, and there are a number of well-known Dutch linguists doing solid work – probably at least on the same per capita level as Americans. Of course, there are no famous linguists other than Noam Chomsky and outside of academia Chomsky is known for politics, not linguistics.
2) At least in science, international teams are becoming a norm, not an exception. I bet there are several great research groups that involve Dutch, British, and American scientists, for example.
3) Some times small countries can develop their own brand of philosophy, history, anthropology, art, etc., that just isn’t popular in a big country who decides matters of fame. I have an Masters in philosophy and there was always a Great Divide between Continental philosophy and Anglo-American philosophy. You could easily get a degree in philosophy in the U.S. and never read anyone who wrote in Europe after about WWII. American philosophy just developed its own concerns and no matter how good you are in extending Kierkegaard and how amazing all your European colleagues think you are for the work, most Americans couldn’t really care less – and vice versa. So it’s possible that there are Dutch artists doing amazing work in Post-Cubist-Minimalism, but no museum in New York or DC or London is much interested in Post-Cubist-Minimalism.
I agree that it is not necessary to live a superpower. But I think there usually has to be a certain culture-wide sense of ambition to motivate creative achievment.
I don’t mean to belittle the Dutch in any way. But it’s possible that, in light of recent history, Dutch culture has decided to cultivate its own garden. I think that the traumas of recent Dutch history can be summed up by considering the life and fate of the only really well-known 20th century Dutch writer I can think of: Anne Frank.
david78209′s comment reminded me that I have read (in translation) several novels by a Dutch-language Indonesian writer named Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who had a Solzhenitsyn-like stature in his homeland. (His Wikipedia page is HERE.) I especially recommend his novel This Earth of Mankind to anyone who enjoys novels or history. (Amazon link HERE.) I believe the French consider their culture to exist anywhere on Earth that their language is spoken. Perhaps the Dutch feel the same way?
Pacatrue: thanks very much for that comment, very insightful.
BYG: i am not sure whether I understand that question…
I wasn’t very clear. Sorry!
Do you think that Dutch culture is contained within The Netherlands itself, or do the Dutch-language products of your former colonies also count as Dutch culture?
no it is contained.
You keep referring to Hirsi Ali who became a Dutch citizen by fraud and deception as a messiah who is going to save the West…while Pim Fortuyn who had the courage to expose the destructive multicultural agenda that gives rise to Islamic-extremism in the Netherlands is being put on the garbage heep. Instead of giving Hirsi Ali a free ride you should pay some attention to the real hero’s.
FYI; I am an exponent of Dutch “Apartheid” culture from their former colonies in South America. So Dutch culture is not contained to the Netherlands.
Lisette, sorry to say, but we consider South African culture, Suriname culture, etc. not to be part of Dutch culture. Dutch culture is of course, to a degree, brought to other countries, but the cultures of (former) colonies is not considered part of our culture. That is how I interpreted BYG’s question.
I do not keep referring like that at all to Ayaan. She is, indeed, a great woman and thinker, who built her own career from scratch by working hard and was able to influence and inspire many others. But a messiah? No. Just a great thinker. I respect her like I respect all great thinkers and I encourage you to stop using phrases like that to describe how you think I think about Ayaan.
“Hirsi Ali built her own career from scratch”.
Are you serious? That’s what the media and the political elite want people to believe. But the truth of the matter is that she got a free ride from the PVDA &VVD because she is a Muslim. The very same political elite who is responsible for the multicultural agenda that is keeping other minorities isolated from the rest of society and giving rise to Islamic extremism.
Is she a great thinker because she expresses the same hatred for religion as the majority of people in the West?
Do you want to tell me that Ayaan was the only great woman in the Netherlands who supposedly worked hard?
In the Netherlands she was vocal and blamed the oppression of Muslim women on Islam but all of a sudden she changed her tune and blames it on the indifference of Dutch society, why is that?
Her case exposed the double standard and cowardice that is rampant and it also makes the Netherlands/ West lose all its credibility of being enlightened. It amazes me.