Rembrandt Reproduction

Matthew Severson · 02-11-2004, 05:44 PM

Reproducing old masters is my passion, although this is only the third I've ever done. (If I ever finish it.)
Comments, suggestions and criticism would be great.
I only show the upper right corner of the painting (because the scanner was too small).

Mike Dodson · 02-11-2004, 06:35 PM

Hi Matthew,

Thought I'd post the reference for you to get things started.

Rembrandt's "Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem" (detail cropped to match your painting).

Mike Dodson · 02-11-2004, 06:50 PM

Let me first say, that at age 16,if my memory serves me correctly, I think you are doing a fantastic job. Having a passion for copying the "Master's" will certainly teach you alot of valuable lessons.

The first thing that is noticeable is the overall color scheme of your painting vs. the attached original copy. One thing I have noticed is that when looking for reproductions just about all copies show variations in the overall basic "tinting" of the copy, so I won't talk about color.

With all that said, I would concentrate on the drawing, particularly at the focal point. The first thing you might look at would be the direction in which the subject is looking. Adjusting the eyes/nose a bit should help. Also the hand in your painting is smaller than the original, both in length and width.

Rather than go on from here, these are the two areas I think would have the biggest impact at this point.

Hope this helps. Nice work.

Peter Jochems · 02-11-2004, 07:13 PM

Hi Matthew, it looks really nice!

One of the best ways to learn how to paint and see how the old masters did it is to copy their work. In this one several elements are combined. The figure, the head (we focus mostly on painting heads here in this forum) and still-life elements. The particular handling of light the way Rembrandt does that and the painterly effects he uses to make that the image sparkle. So, to make a copy of a painting like 'Jeremiah' isn't easy.

Though not perfect, this looks very good to me. The use of shadows, I see you tried to imitate the painterly effects like in the clothing, (especially the fur). It is hard to judge wether you got the colours right. Because I haven't seen the actual reproduction you used. The colours of the real painting which hangs in Amsterdam where I see it every once in a while are different, but this looks similar to certain older reproductions.

Maybe you can make a copy of a portrait by Rembrandt next time, so we can specifically adress certain issues in how to mix colours, how to paint eyes, noses, etcetera. Moreso I would encourage you to make your own photographs of people to make your own portraits. But since copying is your hobby I would not want to discourage that, please make more of them and share them with us.

Especially the form of the head looks different to me. And I see you made him look down while Rembrandt made him look to the left, which changes his expression dramatically. Painting metal objects can be a study in itself, it was one of Rembrandts specialties. I can see that a lot of the colours you use in the figure (as it appears on my monitor) look greenish to me. But as I said before, it may have been the reproduction you used which causes that.

I am really looking forward towards your attempts making your own portraits, with your own photographs. And keep learning from Rembrandt. He was after all one of the greatest portraitpainters ever.

Matthew Severson · 02-11-2004, 07:24 PM

Ouch! When you put the original up there it really makes mine look bad! Take it down! "Just kidding."

Thanks for your help. I never noticed before how different the head and hand are from the original. Let's just hope Rembrandt isn't frowning down on me.

I know what you mean about tint. There are several reasons why it's very difficult to get the same tint as the original: 1. It is hard to know what technique and imprimatura the artist used. 2. Every picture that I've seen of this painting has a different tint; the picture there, probably from at artchive.com, has a very different tint than the photo I was working from.

Had I gone to Amsterdam, which is out of the question, and copied the actual painting my colors probably would have been better.

I suppose Rembrandt isn't the best artist to begin with. Who would you recommend? I had one artist tell me Da Vinci (as a joke).

Matthew

P.S. Yeah, I am 16.

Matthew Severson · 02-11-2004, 07:42 PM

The painting is probably not in Amsterdam right now. The Chicago Art Institute (which I live very near to) is showing Rembrandt on the 14th. The painting is probably there. And I'm going to the Chicago Lyric Opera tomorrow. I wish I could stop by, that is, if they would let me in the exhibit two days early [laughs].

"I just wanna see one painting!"

Matthew