Copy of Rembrandt's "Herman Doomer"

[Chantal Sulkow]

After a lot of browsing and reading, I'm finally posting something: this is a copy of Rembrandt's "Herman Doomer" that I painted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I participate in the copyist program, and this is one of several copies I have painted. My copy is 21" x 27" (one of the requirements is that the size be either reduced or enlarged by at least 10%) and it is oil on masonite board. I reduced the size by cropping some of the background space and tried to maintain the original size of the head.

I ran out of time - the copy permits usually last for a month, and I was right at the end of my second permit and trying to wrap it up- so there are some things I didn't get to resolve, such as the detail in the lace collar (mine is greatly simplified compared to Rembrandt's). The experience at the Met is really wonderful - I also copy from reproductions at home and there is nothing like standing right in front of the painting!

[Mari DeRuntz]

Wow! Simplified but beautiful. A couple of things, please describe your experience as a copyist in the museum. What is your most interesting experience? Did people bother you with questions constantly, or are the hours that you're permitted to copy "non-peak" hours.

Our local museum doesn't have a copyist program in place; do you have any advice for me when I approach them? Do I speak with the registrar?

Also, how did you approach the task, once you had the museum logistics down? Did you research Rembrandt's palette? Ground? In other words, very nice copy! And please elaborate for those of us who want to train ourselves in the same academic manner.

[Chantal Sulkow]

The copying experience at the Met has a number of guidelines. There is an application process, and the hours are 12-4 Tues to Thurs, avoiding the busy weekend hours. Your set up has to be a certain number of feet away from the painting, you must have a drop cloth, and while working on the painting you must leave it with the education department. (Many of the rules seem to be insurance that you're not trying to create a forgery. )

There is definitely a lot of attention from the museum visitors and tourists. Sometimes huge crowds gather. I've moved backward only to step on people standing behind me! Some people have little concept of personal space and want me to stop working and pose for pictures (I don't!), but most are friendly and considerate. After getting over the intitial nerves about painting in public AND in the Met, I started to enjoy the audience- I also realized the situation can be a business opportunity, and when I copy now, I've just started bringing business cards. The closer to the finish you are, the more people get excited.

Looking at my image now on the screen, there's so much that got lost. In person, the background gradation is much smoother and there's more detail visible in the hat and coat. But that's the nature of reproduction! I also always remind myself that a really strong painting should hold up under any reproduction or viewing situation...something to shoot for.

I do a lot of research when I do a copy- I went to The School of Visual Arts and one of the teachers that I studied with taught portraiture in terms of old master techniques and was with me at the museum when I started copying. I did 2 Rubens copies and I am currently in the middle of a Van Dyck, and I feel that the research I did for those paintings may have been more accurate in terms of technique than for this Rembrandt. What I really want to copy is a Sargent, but the paintings available at the Met are too large (heads too high up) and in an inconvenient area.

The ground I used was an umber wash, and the pallette very basic- titanium white (I don't use lead white because of health reasons), yellow ochre, venetian red, cadmium red (in place of vermillion), alizarin crimson, burnt and raw umbers, and ivory black. I based my research on this painting on information I had on other similar paintings, but found out after there was more accurate research I did not have access to until I was done.

Also, I used a controlled, pre-mixed palette. This is the method I was trained in, and I adapt it to the old master pallette colors.

If you are interested, I can dig up my notes and research sources - for Rembrandt, the Rembrandt Research Project is a big resource, as well as a number of books.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Chantal,

The painting turned out very beautifully. I knew that the Louvre has a copiest program, but it never occured to me to ask if our local museums offer such a program as well.

Please share with us who in particular has to be asked for, when making inquries about such a program. I would love to do such a study at LACMA.

[Chantal Sulkow]

Enzie,

At the Met, the contact is the education department; it may be different at various museums, but it is definitely worth investigating! I have been to the Norton Simon (which I believe is in Pasadena?) and I recall a wonderful Rembrandt there. I know the LACMA has some good Rubens. Good luck!

[Rochelle Brown]

Chantal,

I'm really excited for you. I've copied a couple of Rembrandts but for me the time restrictions you mentioned would have made it very hard. If it's OK,I have some questions for you.

Would you find it difficult to use a photo-reproduction after being able to work from the real thing?

Do you plan to re-apply for the copy permit?

What brands of paint did you use and have you read many books on the subject?

[Chantal Sulkow]

I have actually interspersed copying at home from reproductions with copying at the museum and while I have had good experiences, unless you have carefully compared your reprodution to the original in person, it can be hard to control how far off you're going from what the painter did. A few years ago I tried copying "The Calmady Children" by Lawrence from a poster, which showed the two girls in front of a deep, umber/black background. I went to the museum and saw that the girls are portrayed against a deep blue sky!

As for continuing at the museum , I am reapplying to finish copying a Van Dyck virgin and child that I started before the holidays.

The brand of paint that I am using right now is Winsor and Newton- I plan to move to Old Holland at some point, but Winsor and Newton is reasonably priced, and for now and until I can afford the really good stuff, it's worked well for me! I put most of my art supply money into the brushes- I am a believer that you can do a good painting with low quality paint as long as you have good brushes, but not vice versa.

There are a several good books on Rembrandt's technique: check out
"The Painter at Work" by Ernst Van De Wetering, "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in the Metropolitan Museum of Art", and also the National Gallery in London published "Art in the Making- Rembrandt" by Christopher Brown and David Bomford.

[Karin Wells]

Could you post a photo of the uncropped original?

When you copy, I suggest that you copy the painting in proportion, i.e., don't crop. The Old Masters have much to teach us about composition. I think that you missed an important lesson by cropping this portrait.

After photography came into common use, "close cropped" figures seem to have become the standard that we see in the popular media. Photography is not painting of course but unfortunately our eyes have grown used to the way this looks.

The Old Masters knew how to use negative space in painting to good advantage. Cropping really will destroy the composition of fine older works of art by the Masters and ought to be avoided.

Other than the crop, I think that you have done a fine job on this copy.

[Chantal Sulkow]

Thanks, Karen, I completely agree with you on the cropping issue - the negative space is a huge part of successful compositions!

The reason I did crop was under direction from my painting teacher- he wanted us to maintain the original head sizes in our copies. He encouraged us to do separate compositonal studies, and stressed that the work we did in the museum was not to create a finished piece but for the purpose of studying the painter's technique. When I look at the cropped copies I've done, the appearance of space closing in on the subject is unpleasantly disconcerting. The current copy I am working on is uncropped, and definitely makes more sense to me visually!

The image of the original painting that I have on my computer currently is black and white, but I am going to post it following this for compositional purposes.

[Chantal Sulkow]

Here is the original painting by Rembrandt.