The National Gallery or Art’s “Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered” is all about pulling this often-overlooked 17th century master out of the shadow of his better-remembered contemporary, Rembrandt van Rijn. We asked the show’s curator, Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., to point out a few of the Rembrandts in the Gallery’s collection that show a clear Lievens influence, rather than the other way around.
Rembrandt’s “Man in Oriental Costume,” circa 1635, is almost the same image as a Lievens painting by the same title, completed four to six years earlier. “Rembrandt was often inspired by Lievens’s paintings,” Wheelock says. “The man in the Lievens painitng is holding his cloth belt with his left hand. The Rembrandt is doing exactly the same thing.” By the time of this painting, Rembrandt had left Leiden for Amsterdam, while Lievens had gone to London. While the two men were no longer in frequent contact, Lievens evidently remained on Rembrandt’s mind.
“The Philopsopher,” circa 1653, is of the Rembrandt workshop, meaning it was painted by a student of Rembrandt, under Rembrandt’s supervision, and sold as a Rembrandt. It’s a close cousin of Lievens’s “Bearded Man in a Beret,” completed 18 years earlier. “The fascination with age is something Levens and Rembrandt very much shared,” Wheelock says.
The Rembrandt workshop’s 1650-2 “Descent from the Cross” shows a clear influence of Lievens’ 1640-3 “The Sacrifice of Isaac.” “The style of [the Lievens] is more elegant and refined,” Wheelock says. “It’s an interesting comparison of where the two men take their art in the 1640s and 50s.”
If you go
“Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered” at the National Gallery of Art
Where: National Gallery of Art, 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
When: Through January 11, 2009
Info: Free; 202-737-4215; www.nga.gov
