In assenza di parole. Rembrandt “teorico”?
Marco M. Mascolo
The paper examines the problem of Rembrandt’s complex and poorly documented relationship with the so-called “art theory”. The essay aims to trace the evidence that allows us to reconstruct the artist’s position towards theoretical assumptions such as the importance of painting “nae ‘t leven”, that is, from life, taking Nature as a model or his position towards a “high” genre such as the nude. It also proposes a reconstruction of Rembrandt’s educational practice towards his students. Through the analysis of some privileged sources, such as the biography of the painter Joachim von Sandrart, written in 1675, or that of Arnold Houbraken included in «De groote Schouburgh», a historiographical reconstruction of the reception of Rembrandt’s Naturalism in the coeval art literature is also proposed.