Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Rembrandt Anniversary Special
REMBRANDT ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
00:00-00:59 Billboard
MUSIC: ?Studentendans? ( This year marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of the painter Rembrandt van Rijn. Radio Netherlands, the Dutch International service presents a portrait of one of the greatest artists who ever lived. SCHWARTZ: Rembrandt by the time he was 25 was a millinaire through his art. He was getting the richest available in the country. (11?) Yet even Rembrandt?s career had its ups and downs, and over the centuries he came to be seen as a hero and a saint by some, and as a rebel and a misfit by others. In the documentary ?Portraits of the Artist?, Marijke van der Meer looks at our changing image of Rembrandt. In the second half of the program, we hear from people whose lives today are in some way linked to the work of the Dutch master painter: ?Copyists, Collectors and Curators?: KLARENBEEK: I?m a good painter, but he?s a genius. Everything he did turned into gold. (9 sec) BUTTERFIELD: This is the last painting by Rembrandt from the 1660?s still in private hands. (6 sec.) VD BRINK: I don?t think it?s a Rembrandt.(3 sec) RUEGER: The thing is with Rembrandt, he?s immediately recognized, he?s such a famous name. (7 sec) 01:00-03:59 News 04:00-19:00 Rembrandt Doco 1 First Half : Portraits of the Artist (15?00?) PORTRAITS OF THE ARTIST Radio Netherlands presents ?Portraits of the Artist?, our changing image of Rembrandt through the ages produced by Marijke Van de Meer. MUSIC: Album= Practicing Time and Art; comp. Johan Snep, ? Sonate I in D minor, RN Music, MCCL 92111, uitv. ?t Uitnement Kabinet.
1 Bankrupt, widowed, buried in an unmarked grave, estranged from friends and patrons, Rembrandt van Rijn is often portrayed as a misunderstood genius. While his patrons are depicted as jeering philistines, the painter of the Night Watch is seen as a lone hero - as in this 1936 British film classic. (22?) KORDA FILM DE JONGH 3: Well this is an infamous myth? fantasy. (34?) SCHWARTZ 5: We don?t have?we can tell. (1?09?)
2 Gary Schwartz is a prominent Dutch-based American art historian and the author of several books on 17th-century Dutch painting, including a recent new study called ?The Rembrandt Book? (12?) SCHWARTZ 2: Rembrandt?himself. (1?15?) 3 And his fame spread quickly within the Netherlands and abroad, even within his own lifetime. Eddy de Jongh is professor emeritus of art history. (10?) DE JONGH 1: During his lifetime?all over Europe. (53?) SCHWARTZ 3: What the poets say?people?s faces. (1?06?) 4 But there were shadows in Rembrandt?s golden career. His most important early patron, the scholar and connoisseur Constantijn Huygens, even wrote a poem mocking Rembrand?t failure to etch a faithful likeness of his brother?s friend Jacques de Gheyn (17?) 5 Huygens was Rembrandt?s key link to the court of stadholder Frederick Hendrik and his wife Amalia Solms. It was unwise to alienate them, yet the scholar and the artist took a distance from each other for reasons we do not know. (13?) SCHWARTZ 4A: For my new book?street.(47?)
6 There were several occasions when officials passed Rembrandt by for important projects, such as the frescoes for the stadholder?s palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. The most prestigious project of its day, the Amsterdam Town Hall, had only one Rembrandt as an after-thought, and that was removed after some time. (20?) SCHWARTZ 4B: The town hall?personality problems. (52?) DE JONGH 2: Actually we don?t know?still is today. (1?12?) OR: We think..[15 sec later]? OR: ?very much liked. (1?02?) SCHWARTZ 6A: From the time?artists. (1?08?) DE JONGH 4: People who adhered ?common people. (35?) MUSIC: Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, comp. P. Hellendaal, ?Concerto Grosso V in D major? , RNWO 1992, cond. JW de Vriend , NM classics 92019
7 By the 18th century, however, Rembrandt was firmly on his way to becoming a prestigious collectors? item. His paintings graced the walls of the rich and famous in France and Germany and especially in Britain. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the head of the Royal Academy, even travelled to Holland to see his work, and painted a self-portrait in Rembrandt?s style. The Dutch master was especially coveted by the crowned heads of Europe, like Russian empress Catherine the Great, who dispatched art raids into western Europe and snatched up the ?. right under the nose of king Friedrich the Great of Prussia. (35?) SCHWARTZ 8: These were part?Catherine the Great. (54?) OR: So in 1860?(30 sec later) SAKALOVA 1A: Enige echte kunstliefhebbers b.v. graaf Stroganof waardeerden heel veel de fijne kleine schilderijen en heeft in Frankrijk de profeet Jeremiah gekocht, nu in collectie Rijksmuseum. Voor Catherine was het een soort van kunstpolitiek. Zij wilde natuurlijk de beroemdste meesterwerken hebben, maar de russische belangstelling voor Nederlandse meesters was heel belangrijk. Vanaf de tijd van Peter de Grote was het de favoriet voor russische verzamelaars. En het duurt lange tijd. (50?) VOICEOVER 1A: A few true art lovers like count Strogonov appreciated the smaller finer paintings and he bought the prophet Jeremiah in France, now in the Rijksmuseum collection. For Catherine collecting was a kind of art policy. Naturally she wanted the most famous masterpieces, but Russian interest in the Dutch masters. From the time of Peter the Great, it was the favorite art of Russian collectors, and this lasted a long time. (23?) 8 Irena Sakalova is curator of Dutch painting at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Ninetheenth-century Russians had a particular weakness for Rembrandt?s late style, for the portraitsof old men and women and exotic oriental types. This Russian love for Rembrandt spilled over into romantic poetry, for example Michail Lermontov?s poem: ?To the Pictury of Rembrandt? (28?) OPTIONAL: SAKALOVA 1B: In 19de eeuw het was werkelijk een grote ontdekking van Rembrandt?s laatste stijl en deze portretten van oude mannen en oude vrouwen en van Rembrandt?s moeder was belangrijk voor russische verzamelaars, en natuurlijk deze beelden van figuren in vreemde kleding, costuums in deze fantastische orientalische figuren interesseerde het russisch publiek en wij weten van de russische literatuur hoe groot de indruk was van deze figuren. (55?) VOICEOVER 1B: The 19th century saw the discovery of Rembrandt?s late style and these portraits of old men and old women, Rembrandt?s mother. And of course the figures dressed in foreign costumes, these fantastic oriental types appealed to the Russian public. The impression these figures made is reflected in Russian literature. (18?) MUSIC: Tchaikovsky, ? Auf der Wiese?, LERMONTOV (29?) SAKALOVA 2: Ik denk dat de 19de eeuw maakte een heel speciaal beeld van Rembrandt. De 19de eeuw paste heel goed bij de russische smaak Deze een beetje dostoyevsky-achtige, psychologisch gecompliceerde blik, en wij kunnen zien hoe lang deze traditie in Rusland existiert. Tot in de 20ste eeuw wij kunnen zien de diepte van deze waarneming van de meester. Tweede wereldoorlog russische dichters zoals Anna Achmatova, die in evacuatie ver van Leningrad in Tashkent was, en ze heeft een poeem geschreven en zegt dat deze heel donkere Rembrandteque hoeken van de kamer (1?23?) OR: ?schilderijen van Rembrandt. (1?27?) VOICEOVER 2: I think the 19th century had a very special view of Rembrandt, that fit in well with the Russian penchant for a Dostoyevsky-like psychologically complex view of the world. Well into the 20th century you see this, for example in the Second World War. When she was in exile in Tashkent, far from Leningrad, the great poet Anna Achmatova, for example, wrote of the dark Rembrandtesque corners of the room. (24?) MUSIC: Beethoven, Piano Concerto no. 5 in Es, op. 73, CGB orkest and Claudio Arrau, Philips, 00289 4768540, wet 4768538
9 In the Romantic age, Rembrandt had many admirers in France by the poet Baudelaire, the painter Delacroix and the writer Victor Hugo. Germany?s greatest poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe chose an etching by Rembrandt for the title pae of the first edition of his masterpiece Faust. (20?) DE JONGH 5: What was criticized?kindred spirit. (31?) SCHWARTZ 6B: But, in fact..political activists. (54?) OR: Rembrandt lifelikeness [29 sec later]? HECHT 5A: It?s the 19th century?.Rembrandt. (44?) OR: He?s then?.[14 sec later] 10 Peter Hecht is professor of art history at the university of Utrecht. You?re tuned to ?Portraits of the Artist?, a Radio Netherlands documentary about Rembrandt. Professor Hecht is the curator of an exhibition about the links between Rembrandt and another great Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh. (20?) HECHT 1: There?s no artist?come and see. (END OF FIRST PART OF DOCO) ?Portraits of the artist? is a Radio Nethlands presentation to mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of Rembrandt van Rijn. . 19:00-19:59 ONE MINUTE MUSIC BED 20:00-34:00: Rembrandt Doco 1 (? Portraits of the Artist?) Second Half (14?00?)
You?re listening to ?Portraits of the artist? a special program on the life and legacy of Rembrandt - from Radio Netherlands MUSIC: Rimsky, Sadko, opus 5, C. 200057 VINCENT (38?) 11 When Vincent saw The Jewish Bride at the Rijksmuseum in the 1880?s, it was one of only four Rembrandts in Amsterdam, and one of only 8 still in public collections in the Netherlands. Most Rembrandts had been sold abroad, but with the rise of a new sense of Dutch national identity in the 19th century, the Netherlands reclaimed Rembrandt as a symbol of Dutch glory. Rembrandt?s Night Watch was placed on the high altar of a new Dutch cathedral of art, the Rijksmuseum. (33?) SCHWARTZ 9: It came about? Dutch culture. (2?01?) OR: It was only?in competition with Rubens. (51?) HECHT 5B: In Flanders?secular religion. (20?) MUSIC: Rembrandt cantate, Strategier, 1956 SOUND COLLAGE: RNW intro/ outro/ etc. 12 Rembrandt hero worship continued well into the 20th century. Operas and cantatas and major symphonic works have been composed in his honor, for example during the 1956 celebrations of the 350th anniversary of his birth. (17?) (bring up SOUND) 13 Rembrandt was even claimed by others, as an artist who was not necessarily only Dutch. (7?) DE JONGH 6: Oh yes, there were German authors?repeated (1?10?) JINGLE from NAZI FILM 14 During their occupation of the Netherlands, the Nazis declared July 15th Rembrandt Day to distract attention away from the national holiday, the birthday of the exiled Queen. They had an opera written and a film was made that portrays Rembrandt as the victim of Jewish plots to rob and ruin him.(23?) NAZI FILM
15 There was a Russian and a French and a German Rembrandt, an 18th and a 19th century Rembrandt, a Nazi Rembrandt and even a Marxist Rembrandt. (10?) [In the United States, Americans created their own Rembrandt (5?)] DE JONGH 7: Oh yes?.Marxist rebel. (44?) And there are several American Rembrandts. HELLER B: There is not?anywhere. (31?) 16 American novelist Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22, wrote a novel called Picture This in the late 1980?s. It was inspired by a Rembrandt painting called Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer. For Heller, the painting was his peg for a political message. (20?) HELLER A: It was not ?individuals. (50?) 17 Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer was bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1961 for over two million dollars, a record price on the world art market. By the end of the 20th century, Americans owned a quarter of all the Rembrandts in the world. (20?) SCHWARTZ 7: Part of it?compare themselves with. (1?08?) From the homes of Dutch patricians, English aristocrats, Russian tsars and American tycoons, Rembrandt has also found his way into popular culture. Barbra Streisand turned to Rembrandt for inspiration when she directed her first film Yentl.(18?) STRIESAND: Actually?I want, you know. (50?) The dramatic events of Rembrandt?s life and individual paintings have been the subject of many a novel, from pulp fiction to some pretty decent literature, from Edith Wharton to Sadie Smith and her recent novel, On Beauty, in which two rival art history professors hold opposing views of Rembrandt.(20?) MUSIC: ?Natural Science? album, ?Micrology?, K. Mansfield comp., KPM 98CD, C205.267 ON BEAUTY: (60?) RRP SOUND
In the age of science and technology, Rembrandt has become the object of thorough technical analysis. Here some Dutch scientists are discussing amino acids/chemical scan of paint from the sleeve of the groom in the Jewish Bride. They are part of the Rembrandt Research Project which was set up twenty years ago. (22?) RRP (v/d Wetering): +/- 1?20? ? 1?54? DE JONGH 8: The RRP?attention. (29?) Using sophisticated equipment and state-of-the art technology, the Rembrandt Research Project has been examining every single painting purported to be a Rembrandt. Before the project began, roughly 600 paintings were attributed to Rembrandt. The RRP has whittled that down to about 300. The project found that many socalled Rembrandts were actually made by his pupils, or were only touched up or partly done by the master himself. And this in turn has raised the question: ?What is a Rembrandt?? Gary Schwartz: (41?) SCHWARTZ 10: If you look at?come to an end. (2?02?) OR: What happens is?.(48?) or (58?) MUSIC: Snep (see opening music) Portraits of the Artist was produced by Radio Netherlands. Marijke Van der Meer continues her look at the legacy of Rembrandt by talking with people whose lives today are in some way linked to the work of the Dutch painter: ?Copyists, Collectors and Curators?: 34:00 (END OF FIRST DOCO PART 2 [14?00?] 34:00-39:00 Start of REMBRANDT DOCO 2: ?Copyists, Collectors and Curators?, Part 1 (5 min) MUSIC: Michael Praetorius comp., ?Terpsichore? (Bransle de la Torche), album: ?Rembrandt Music of His Time? , Westra Aros Pijpare+ Bertil F?rnl?f perf., NAXOS 8.558118, C245415
Hundreds of years after he lived, Rembrandt continues to affect the passions and professions of people alive today ? people who study his work, who try to emulate it, who trade in his paintings and etchings, and who keep the link alive between the artist and his modern public. We present: ?Copyists, Collectors and Curators?, Rembrandt?s 21st-century heirs.(29?) KLARENBEEK 2: There are no easy paintings to copy, especially Rembrandt. I?m a good painter, but he?s a genius. Everything he did turned into gold . (14 sec) Ren? Klarenbeek is a Dutch painter in his early forties who has decided to spend the next ten years making copies of Rembrandt. He calls this the Rembrandt?s Pupil Project.(13?) KLARENBEEK 1: I?ve declared myself a pupil of the master, and I?m trying to do the things pupils did in his time: for example making copies of the master. So I visit museums, set up my easel and work in the old museum tradition, which is almost gone now, but in the past academy students were forced to make copies. It?s a most exciting way to try to study something and find out how the master did it. (33?) Ren? Klarenbeek has painted copies of Rembrandts in Berlin, The Hague, and southern France. I spoke with him in the very room where the Master himself worked: the reconstructed studio in the house where Rembrandt lived in the 1640?s and 50?s and which is now the Rembrandt House Museum. In this room, Klarenbeek was copying a small study in oils of an old man. (26?) KLARENBEEK 3: It?s a very small study? so I?m eating ice-cream all week here. (1?54?) KLARENBEEK 4: Do you think?astonishing what they made. (41?)
KLARENBEEK 5: And you work..reality. (1?19?- 2?06?) KLARENBEEK 6: What?s it like?Rembrandt adept. (2?06?-2??25? + ambiant sound) MUSIC
You?re listening to a special program to mark the 400th anniversary of the Birth of the Dutch painter, Rembrandt - brought to you by Radio Netherlands. 39:00-39:59 ONE-MINUTE MUSIC BED 40:00-59:00 Rembrandt Doco 2, Part 2 (18-19 min) Radio Netherlands celebrates the work of Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn ? Marijke van der Meer talks with people whose lives are still closely bound to the work of the master; Copyists, collectors and curators. MUSIC: ?Galjaarde Fiool? ( While many of us would be delighted to own a copy of a Rembrandt or even a good reproduction only the priveleged few can own the real thing.(10?) SIX 1: Our family crest?.goes on. (22?) Baron Jan Six, 9th Lord of Hillegom, is a direct descendant of one of Rembrandt?s most important patrons, Jan Six. In the Golden Age, the Six family were prominent Amsterdam patricians, active in the city?s business, political, and cultural life. Rembrandt?s painting of Jan Six is considered to be one of the best portraits of the 17th century, and his etching of Jan Six as a young man reading by a window is considered to be one of the finest etchings of all times. Many of his Rembrandts are still in the family?s possession. (37?) SIX 2: Jan Six had?to name a few. (2?58?) The Six family country estate is currently being restored and the paintings are either in storage or on loan. Normally the family allows five thousand visitors a year to view the masterpieces, and only by introduction. (15?) SIX 3: The icons?painted. (2?04?) MUSIC: same as above
Many an art dealer would like to get their hands on some of these works, but Rembrandts rarely come up for sale. Salander O?Reilly Galleries of New York recently brought a Rembrandt onto the market. It was one of the stars of the prestigious European Fine Arts Fair in Maastricht, where I spoke with the gallery?s executive vice-president Andrew Butterfield. (23?) BUTTERFIELD: The painting represents?.Rembrandt House in Amsterdam. (3?21?) [CUT 34?-1?28?] VAN DEN BRINK 4A: Well it may be a Rembrandt, but it must have made after a very long night. It?s possible Rembrandt made bad paintings, but I don?t think it is a Rembrandt. (16?) OR: But its provenance has quite a pedigree?.Does that make it a Rembrandt? (42?) Pieter van den Brink is curator of Aachen city museums, including the Surmont Ludwig Museum, which owns a Rembrandt. (8?) VAN DEN BRINK 4B: I think it?s quite dangerous to have the price of a paintingdepend on the name given to it, because someone who buys it now as a R has to pay 35 mln dollars but may have to sell it for 500 thousand in a few year. Attibutions change all the time, but the main thing is quality. (36?)
Then you have to be careful, because buying a name puts a lot of pressure on the collector because to save the worth of your painting you have to bribe a lot of people to keep it a R. Bribe? Well, it?s pretty sure that many attributions keep the price high. (1?13?) But this must be a good time to sell a R, because we are seeing a wave or re-attributions after a lot of de-attributions by the RRP? I always joke about this. We have so many R. exhibitions that we don?t have enough Rembrandts. It?s easier to attirubte more Rembrandt, we can have more Rembrandts for different shows. (1?45?) MUSIC: same as above
One thing that can worry curators more than the problem of attribution these days is what some of them call the threat of ?Rembrandt overkill?. (9?) RUEGER 1Aa: We thought?.or can?t we get enough of him? (16?) Axel R?ger is the new director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and was until recently the curator of Dutch painting at the National Gallery in London. Rueger and Van den Brink recently took part in the 9th international CODART congress of Curators of Dutch and Flemish Art.(20?) RUEGER 1Ab: We obviously ?around the world. (26?-1?02?) VAN DEN BRINK 1A: Everyone wants to make a Rembrandt exhibition?.I?m not the only one. (48?) [can CUT] RUEGER 1B: The thin is with Rembrandt?.more and more exhibitions. (30?) VAN DEN BRINK 1B: The fact is?level of the exhibitions? (50?) RUEGER 2: I think there is a shift?..be seen. (1?18?) [CUT] VAN DEN BRINK 2: I think it?s important?more active. (27?) RUEGER 3: Well I think?between the two. (43?) VAN DEN BRINK 3: The problem is?.fed up with Rembrandt. (27?) MUSIC: bring up end of Galjaarde Fiool You?ve been listening to a special program to mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of the Dutch Painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It was produced by Marijke Van der Meer and brought to you by Radio Netherlands, The Dutch International Service. If you would like more information about this or any of our other programs, visit our website at www.radionetherlands.nl
OR: ?.Amsterdam (1?29?)
OR: The only?.we can tell. (30? ? 1?08?)
+ Did this?.city. (1?29?)
OR: cut out middle 30 sec: For my new book?city. (1?00?)
Maybe I should?limited pale.t (41?- 1?19?)
The man in the Golden Helmet, though not a R, is a far better painting than the Saint James, which is being sold for 35 million. (46?)
