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Rembrandt 10, Morris 3, California 2, Los Angeles 1, Us 1, San Francisco 1, La Paz Lapis Lazuli 1, Holland 1, Leonardo Davinci Monalisa 1, Amsterdam 1, Fiction 1, Rembrandt 's Pupil 1, Susanna 1, Jaca 1,
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    April 15, 2013
    8:30 - 9:00pm PDT  

talk about it later in my talk. the extensive production of paintings in the dutch golden age of the economic prosperity and enjoyed by the dutch republic. from all walks of life, these from their realism, diversity and exceptional quality. the examples that are on sflu view in this gallery demonstrate a wealthy information about their subject through their dress and environments. like many photographs taken today 17th century portraits were taken from weddings. from 1625 him
and his wife are exceptional examples of large scale marriage portraits. other typical occasions for commissioning portraits were births. capture the innocence of a beloved child. one of rembrandt's pupil. we see why he became a painter. the child's face reveal his own mature vocabulary. for those who have seen the exhibition it's exhibited next to rembrandt's work and you can see the two side by side. from
this period, who was most famous for his self portraits. at the time, the paintings, is a copy of the original tradition of rembrandt. here you see the two paintings together which makes a subtle variations evident. the angle of the head and more controlled and refined manner of the brush work and copy on the left suggest that these paintings are probably not by the same hand. we now have scientific evidence which further suggest that the morris picture is a studio copy perhaps by the talented artist gart who is rembrandt's first people. you
may remember he allegiance of honor in the summer of 2011. the reason why they think it's other than rembrandt because of the discovery of infrared that there is a sketchy black charcoal beneath the painted layers. under drawing is not characteristic of rembrandt's work. i'm not saying it definitely isn't by rembrandt, or it is by rembrandt. this am biguity is -- scientist have given us more information about what is going on behind-the-scenes but we don't know for sure that rembrandt
didn't paint the picture. as i said it was unlikely and unusual for rembrandt to do any drawings under compositions but as was pointed out to me, it also could have been rembrandt's way of saying i can do this, and i can make a portrait that looks like this. so at this time we simply don't know. this exceptional portrait from 1632 literally illuminates this amsterdam leading portraits only having established the year before. realm rembrandt's with striking 3-dimensional and this particular style was well
suited for the requirement of his prosperous clientele. this portrait is in exceptional condition and one rembrandt employed through his constant work. paint passages in this composition vary from paso to diligent. you may wish to visit at the allegiance of honor where he's currently on view in gallery 14. for our portrait was painted when the artist was only 26. this portrait of an elderly man was completed in 1627. where as the quality of some artist work declines noticeable towards the end of
their lives. rembrandt's late composition is characterize by pictorial eloquence. throughout his career he refined his brush work lend ing his numerous work. here we see the dynamic and right original approach to the dutch masters and one of the favored personality. a praise from 1631 on the left and susanna from 1636 on the right. here his technique, the emotional power of his compositions, and the dramatic
plays of light and shadow takes center stage. these are but a few key elements that describe rembrandt exceptional command of paint and canvas. promise you i will tell you more about troenie. it's from 1635 also by rembrandt, a different category. these were not intended as likeness as people. they are called troenis. they were intended studies of certain facial expressions or figure types. sometimes artist used their own faces as rembrandt was particularly fond of doing. their rich detail develops a character within a
single frame and contributing to this popularity of genre. the most famous troenie is the girl with the pearl earring which i will discuss next and now painting you have all been waiting for, please don't get up and leave after i talk about her. the enigmatic girl with the pearl earring. the girl who is idealized and brightly lit phase is unknown. her exotic attire lends the picture an aura of tranquility. like
leonardo davinci monalisa as the most famous painting in the world. while the girl's face is modeled with invisible brush strokes, her clothing are much more expressively painted. small subtle reflexes of life ven compass the compositions and her eyes and lower lips and her famous pearls. her ultra marine pigment, la paz lapis lazuli -- in a wet mixed with paint. broad thick brush work where her jacket is more
rendered. a paint which applied over a dark background has darkened considerably with age. at the time the painting was stable but it's appearance was far from ideal. the tinted varnish yellowed with age and created an uneven effect. these products of previous restorations were removed without damageing the original paint and the thin layer of varnish was added. retouching was executed. today the masterly reflections of light are once again revealed. the final gallery of exhibition is devoted to genre paintings that
seem to be taken from everyday life. their subject matter ranges broadly from rustic folk, to elegant men and women in sumptuous interiors. it's interesting to point out that this painting hangs next to the girl with the pearl earring. these were viewed as realistic depiction. now many genre contain deeper meanings with virtuous and chased lives. sometimes the moralizing message are conveyed explicitly. as the oyster eater
circa 1658 and the girl 1662 on the right. both compositions are lighthearted warnings about the danger of love and seduction. paintings such as live scenes of households. the painting. twitter the young is a satirical and emily pointed out the translate from this music here and a literal transition which might have a
reference to the bagpipe here and also what i will talk about? just a moment. never one to miss an opportunity for a devilish inside joke. here health and safety he is as a father teaching his young child to smoke. that takes on a different meaning. not every detail of a genre painting contains a different meaning. many probably intended colorful scenes from 1673 cheerful assortment of amusement. 1660 which we see
here was mainly concerned with using sublime techniques to show these in a setting in a most pleasing way possible. this violin player from 1626 had very little to do with everyday life. the dutch paintings still have on us today. the fine arts museum of san francisco are delighted to exhibit these treasures which opens to the public today january 26 in golden gate park. thank you very much. >> are we taking questions individually or are we waiting until the very end? it looks like there are some questions.
so unless someone tells me not to answer, i will start doing so. there is one in the cap. so the question is about whether or not the first turnie that i showed did rembrandt use his own facial features? quite possibly. that's been discussed in some literature that could be rembrandt using his own features. one thing to remember about troenie, they are not supposed to be of anyone person. their figure types. that's important to remember about the girl with the pearl earring. many have seen the film the girl with the pearl
earning from a novel. it's a fiction. in that book and in the movie, the idea is a he was inspired by his maid to paint this picture and she's actually the model who possess for the girl with the pearl earrings. people would say, i'm here to see the portrait where do i find it. they said we don't have it. what are they talking about and they took this literally and this was the maid. not true. it's one of those romantic stories, but just make the mystery more interesting but not a specific portrait of a person. there is a question on the aisle here?
the question about whether the girl with the pearl earring was commissioned and the answer is we don't know. it did come out of rembrandt studio and another layer to the mystery in the story is we didn't know where she was for about 200 years. she resurfaces at an auction where the historian realizes this was a pretty good picture and decided they wouldn't bid against each other. it sold for 2 guilders and which is basically a dollar. the painting was yellow with age but still in pretty good condition. where was she for 200 years. okay. i will cheat and i will go backwards but i will keep
moving across the auditorium. in our excision the smallest picture is the picture of an oyster eater. the girl eating oysters. it across from the picture. it's also by yan stain as the old twitter of the young. that picture of the 17th century weren't exclusive small but they tend to be smaller than typical pictures of the time and that had to do with their intended setting. many were intended for small places, much more intimate scale. now we are in the middle of the auditorium. that is a great question and i can remember two. i have got four out of the 5. the church interior, the
catholic church that was not in japan and the self portrait of the artist and i have been trying to remember the 5th one but i can't. sorry about that. [inaudible] >> yes. i actually googled that the other day and one of my colleagues maybe can say why the names are spelled differently. i know that van roy who actually create d his own name. i think it was after a building. it was kind of a fabricated nome do plume if you will. but i don't know why they
are spelled differently. jaca was the nephew. i don't know the answer. my colleagues are shaking their heads so that makes me feel better. >> the obscure a, it been a very popular question about all the lectures that i have given about this exhibition. the camera, is two different kind of ways of understanding the world around you using lenses so to translate what you are seeing onto a page that you are drawing from or on the a canvas that you are painting. we don't know for sure and this is coming verdict sher since it
was shadow and optical effects, it almost goes without saying he was an aware of camera obscure abut whether or not he auto it, i'm not sure. the book, which is called secret not knowledge, in this book he postulates that many of the obscure a bare compositions. it's an interesting question but want to be really careful about how i talk about it because we don't know for sure that he used a camera obscure a there is some interesting research that's been discussed
recently that can kind of fill them with a technical gap which is whether or not he used a model. if you look at the composition of the girl with the pearl earring and study the spatial layout and the light effects, it's plausible that he was using an actual model and he wasn't just basing the model off his own imagination but we don't know for sure if he did use the camera obscure a. long answer. any other questions? one in the front. the question is about vermier's paintings. this is the only in the exhibition. at the moment, i don't know if it's an arrived at the getty yet. there are no vermier's paintings in california. there will also be
a vermier in amsterdam at the getty museum in los angeles. i think it opens around february 14th. there will be two in california which is exciting. we only know about 34-36 vermier paintings in the world it's a small number. there is a little group at the metropolitan museum and also some regional museums in holland. the morris house has 3, girl with the pearl earring and the view of -- they are scattered afford around but there is only a few around. i
should probably wrap up. >> so the question is about the morris house and it's collection and there is some really interesting commentary in the catalog. it a lovely book and i would encourage to you look at that and there is a nice history about the the collection. like i said, it was really the bulk of it was formed by the stockholders. it not the collection of the royal family which is why they tend to use the morris house but the formal name is morris house. i think where the paintings were stolen by napoleon and there is interesting history of pictures moving back and forth but the
paintings were form by the stockholders and they have acquire them and two of the most recent acquisitions were the -- in the seen and rembrandt portrait of an old man -- acquired in 1999. there were a lot of donors that contributed to that. thank you for your time, if there are any more questions maybe we can stretch our legs

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