Exhibition highlight

Rembrandt & Hoogstraten: Art pegboard de luxe

(Bild: © KHM-Museumsverband)

Major parallel action: the Kunsthistorisches Museum is exhibiting Master Rembrandt alongside his pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten under the title "Color and Illusion". The farewell exhibition by KHM Director Sabine Haag is open to the public from Tuesday.

"Oh, what a shock!" was her first reaction to the idea of a Rembrandt exhibition, says KHM curator Sabine Pénot. Numerous such exhibitions have taken place recently. And even if Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum owns six paintings by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), which have also just been restored, other museums have more extensive, heavier holdings.

Rembrandt's "Sermon of John the Baptist", 1634/35, from Berlin(Bild: Christoph Schmidt, SMB PK GG)

First and foremost Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, plus the magnificent Rembrandt treasures in London and the famous Berlin collection. So it is certainly not easy to get hold of the really great Rembrandts. Moreover, the extensive oeuvre only allows certain aspects to be addressed.

But the desire for Rembrandt was great for the soon to be retiring KHM director Sabine Haag. Since "the KHM only applies for loans with great precision", says Haag, a magnificent international bouquet has been collected.

Rembrandt's self-portrait with palette and cane, around 1665(Bild: © English Heritage)

An art treatise as an exhibition argument 
Amsterdam's Rembrandt House was the most important partner and lender. And Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678) also comes into play with Rembrandt's place of life and work. In the KHM exhibition, he is placed alongside the Dutch Baroque star.

Fortunately, the 21 years younger artist was one of Rembrandt's many pupils, who lived, worked and studied with him. 27 borrowed paintings by Hoogstraten plus two of his own therefore hang opposite a total of 28 Rembrandts.

Samuel van Hoogstraten, "Old Man in the Window", 1653(Bild: KHM-Museumsverband)

Hoogstraten can also refer to a Viennese episode in his biography: "This is the first painter who has deceived me", enthused Emperor Ferdinand III when Hoogstraten showed him his "Trompe-l'œils", his art that deceived his eyes, in 1651. Ferdinand then had him paint the Inner Burgplatz in an illusionistic frame. In an art treatise written later, Hoogstraten recalled his time with Rembrandt and his understanding of art.

How much illusionist is there in the old Rembrandt? 
A treatise edition therefore dawns in the display case to the left of the entrance as the great hinge for the pair run. The pupil is introduced stylistically close to the teacher in the comparative hanging. He then shines as a master of illusion: magnificently dressed up, his "Old Man in the Window" peers out of the bull's-eye panes. All kinds of bric-a-brac can be found on the pegboard in the "Augenbetrüger-Stillleben".

Hoogstraten, "Eye Deceiver Still Life", 1666/78(Bild: Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe)

This also tempts us to search for illusionism in Rembrandt's work. The curtain in his Kassel "Holy Family" seems to be moved by the wind. The girl from Warsaw even rests her hands on a painted frame. A few more comparative exercises are attempted.

But while Rembrandt remained faithful to the human image above all, his pupil, who was much in demand for his trompe-l'œils, also ventured into interior painting, architecture, then Christian subjects and, increasingly pushing towards cool classicism, various allegories.

Rembrandt painted his Saskia van Uylenburgh in an Arcadian costume in 1635(Bild: © The National Gallery, London)

Rembrandt is always worth an exhibition. It is also a pleasure to make the acquaintance of the original Hoogstraten, who has received little attention to date. It is up to the viewer to decide for themselves how much added value to derive from the pairing of the two artists, who soon drift apart. But for the finale, there are three more Rembrandt paintings in their entirety: wife Saskia van Uylenburgh waves from the show as Judith, as Minerva and in Arcadian costume.