Lessons to be learnt.
I have nearly finished, ‘The Anatomy Lesson’ by Nina Siegal, another novel about Rembrandt in 17th century Amsterdam. It describes the events leading up to the opening night of the Winter Festival, January 31st 1632. Dr Nicolaes Tulpis, Anatomy Professor at The Guild of Surgeons, gives his annual lecture on the Human body and the Fabric of Nature. Twenty six year old Rembrandt is in the audience having received a commissioned from the Guild.
The corpse is Adriaen Adriaenszoon, known as Aris het Kindt (Aris the Child), a thief charged with violent robbery. After his hanging earlier that day he was taken straight to the Chambers at the Guild of Surgeons and prepared for dissection during the lecture that evening. Only the bodies of male criminals could be used as they were seen to be outside of the church and forced donation of their bodies gave them a post-mortem opportunity to repay their debt to society!
This particular year Dr Tulp demonstrates the dissection of the hand and forearm. I saw this painting, at the Mauritshuis Museum in the Hague the year before last, It’s not one of my favourites, it is well refined in comparison with Rembrandt’s later works when he became much looser and thicker in his paint application which offered more about the act of painting as opposed to a perfect/naturalistic rendition of a scene.
I have to admit that when I saw this painting, I didn’t notice anything untoward but now that I have been studying anatomy from an artistic perspective I can’t believe I missed a glaringly obvious problem. Earlier in life Aris het Kindt's right hand had been amputated, as was the punishment for a convicted thief in the 17th century. X-rays of the painting reveal that Rembrandt originally painted the amputation, only later inserting a right hand. A reasonable thing to do considering the circumstances, but what is completely unexplainable is that Rembrandt decided to paint the hand on top of the amputated limb instead of connecting it to the end of the amputation. The tips of the fingers should fall to about halfway down the thigh as can be seen with the left dissected hand. Why Rembrandt did this we will never know but he remains my hero!
There are more interesting revelations revealed by the x-ray I would say the best information I could find on this was an article by the Israeli Medical Association: https://www.ima.org.il/FilesUploadPublic/IMAJ/0/41/20843.pdf
A slight aside, Charles Byrne, an Irish man born in 1761 had ‘Gigantism’ and grew to 2.31m (7’7”). He became the obsession of the eminent Anatomist John Hunter who was determined to procure Byrne’s body upon death, despite not being legally allowed to do so as Byrne was not a criminal. Byrnes was aware of this obsession and when he died of tuberculosis aged 22, in keeping with his wishes his friends took him to Margate for a sea burial. Unfortunately, that dastardly Hunter bribed the undertakers, switched the body and four years later his skeleton was on display at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London where it remains to this day.
Since 2011 there has been continuous pressure and legal debate concerning the unethical display of Charles Byrnes’s remains and the Royal College of Surgeons have been extremely stubborn, refusing to handover the bones and allow Charles a decent burial. Pressure has continued and the museum has been closed for renovation since 2018 due to reopen in 2021. It is hoped by many that when the museum opens its doors Charles Byrne will not be there. I would be grateful if friends in London could keep an eye out for the reopening and let us know. If Charles is still there, I will join the campaign.
A lesson learnt this month, if it’s not right, it’s just not right, don’t pussyfoot around making small adjustments in the hope that the problem will go away. I have previously shared images of progress of my painting ‘Shrouds Have No Pockets’ (Alan). Every time I looked at the painting I didn’t like his hitched right shoulder and the fact that he appeared quite upright in the armchair, infact, I didn’t even like the big boxy armchair. I kept faffing around with small adjustments, tonal changes, moving the arm, all the while working more detail into the face. The bottom line was his upper body and head needed to shift to the right and the armchair just had to go. I reached the end of yet another day of tweaking until finally I learnt my lesson, took a large brush and painted out the head and shoulders, it took me about 3 minutes and felt great, I've have to start all over again but at least I'm happy!
I am a car boot addict, happy to get up at 6am on a Sunday to be one of the first at Sully car boot sale, oh how I ‘ve missed them this past year. At one of the last pre-Covid car boot sales, I met a plucky 90 something-year-old lady, she sold me a pair of old boots, beautifully made and carefully resoled over the years. I cannot forget the look on her face as she handed them to me and told me to care for them as they have a wonderful history. As you can imagine I was rather excited when Jac said we’re going to be painting boots at our next tuition session. I have just stared at the wall for 10 minutes trying think of words to describe how it feels to be painting these boots. It’s something to do with the desire to infuse the past that I saw in her eyes with my own sensation when I wear these boots, a weight of responsibility that is so emotionally charged it excites me and can feel it in the way I’m painting. There is a long way to go but I’m happy with the start.
My Odd Nerdrum master copy, Dr Kabul, is coming along nicely, I am starting to achieve the thickness of paint with it’s peaks and troughs that influence the next layer in so many unpredictable ways, it’s a magical experience. Dr Kagul, a doctor? He looks like a well-travelled rogue, if he is a doctor, he is a self-taught, dodgy backstreet doctor who patches up criminals that need to hide their identity. Now I have started my response to this master copy. I have chosen to paint Amin, a friend with an interesting and chequered past. Jac has reminded me this has to be my response to Odd Nerdrum as a painter and myself as a painter, this is not an illustration of Amin as a person it is an narration of my experience of painting, my exploration that holds the essence of Amin whilst I encounter myself. I have the ashaltum and radiant green grissaile complete, happy with the start.
Well its time to go, its May Bank Holiday and I never thought I would be so excited to be crossing the bridge from Wales to England. Until next time my friends and please share this blog if you feel inclined.