“Rembrandt and “everyday life”: the fusion of genre and history,” in Arthur J. DiFuria, ed., Genre Imagery in Early Modern Northern Europe: New Perspectives, London and New York: Routledge: An Ashgate Book, 2016, 161-182

Questioning Pictorial Genres in Dutch 17th-Century Art, 2021

Print Quarterly, 1988

2017

This research project reads seventeenth century Dutch still life through the lens of a contemporary painting practice. I contribute to the field of traditional seventeenth-century Dutch still life by activating a different form of perception, one developed through a practical model of looking, thinking and painting. I investigate how still life paintings are intelligent constructions that combine nuanced compositional structures and represented objects. This combination of composition and representation differs in focus and methods between subgenres, and these differences are at the core of this research. The contribution of this research lies in the crafting of a complex methodology comprising three parts: positing a new way of looking at the tradition; writing about the paintings; and making contemporary paintings. Through this methodological approach, I argue that specific compositional and painterly features are typical within different subgenres of traditional still life painti...

2018

2008

"How did painters and their public speak about art in Rembrandt’s age? This book about the writings of the painter-poet Samuel van Hoogstraten, one of Rembrandt’s pupils, examines a wide variety of themes from painting practice and theory from the Dutch Golden Age. It addresses the contested issue of ‘Dutch realism’ and its hidden symbolism, as well as Rembrandt’s concern with representing emotions in order to involve the spectator. Diverse aspects of imitation and illusion come to the fore, such as the theory behind sketchy or ‘rough’ brushwork and the active role played by the viewer’s imagination. Taking as its starting point discussions in Rembrandt’s studio, this unique study provides an overview of Dutch artists’ ideas on painting. The Visible World was awarded the Jan van Gelder Prize in 2009. Reviews: Jan Blanc in Simiolus 33/4 (2007-8), Amy Golahny in Sehepunkte 10 (2010), nr. 6., Bram de Klerck in NRC Handelsblad, 13 February 2009. "

The Heart of Rembrandt, 2019

The Heart of Rembrandt comes forth from the Essay Analogia Part II, adding the results of further and more detailed research on the possible symbolism of geometry in the 17th century Dutch Painting. Especially the famous self-portrait of Rembrandt, with the two circles, could be in more than one aspect an artistic declaration of independence, stressing the emancipation of the artist. But this he had to be learned with the compass, as a young apprentice.

Claudia Fritzsche, Karin Leonhard, Gregor J. M. Weber (eds.), Ad Fontes! Niederländische Kunst des 17. Jahrhunderts in Quellen, 2013

History of European Ideas, 2007

In this essay, I aim to identify and analyze the influence of Cartesian dualism on Rembrandt's pictorial representations of the self. My thesis is that Descartes and Rembrandt share concerns about philosophy's exploration of human nature, concerns rooted in mind-body dualism. Descartes's corpus bears witness to a growing skepticism about the relation between matter and extension. Likewise, Rembrandt's anatomy lessons lead the viewer to question the value of treating humans as scientific objects. I suggest that by reexamining Rembrandt's work in light of the mind-body problem we generate a fuller understanding of Rembrandt's artistic critique and expression and Descartes's mature scientific thinking and abiding influence. My analysis centers on four Rembrandt paintings: