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Satire on Art Criticism

1644
Not on view
An atypical subject and approach to composition, Rembrandt's "Satire on Art Criticism" buffoons the rhetoric of his contemporary art critics. The posturing "connoisseur" at left comments on painted portraits brought before him. Rembrandt has drawn his composition from a classical subject, "The Calumny of Apelles", which he knew from a drawing by the Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna (1430/31-1506). In Mantegna's drawing the beautiful Calumny, urged on by Treachery and Deceit, drags an innocent youth who is the victim of slander before a judge bearing the ears of an ass; the judge is flanked by Ignorance and Suspicion, and Repentance and Truth linger in the background. Here Rembrandt has reduced the number of personifications and transformed them into onlookers in contemporary dress. He has substituted two painted portraits for the victim receiving judgment. The drawing remains somewhat enigmatic, since the inscriptions on the critic's platform and on the framed painting cannot be read easily, nor are they surely in Rembrandt's hand.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Satire on Art Criticism
  • Artist: Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
  • Date: 1644
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink corrected with white.
  • Dimensions: 6 1/8 x 7 15/16 in. (15.5 x 20.1 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.799
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

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Abraham Casting out Hagar and Ishmael, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching with touches of drypoint
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1637
St. Jerome Reading, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching
St. Jerome Reading
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Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching, pen and ink
Return of the Prodigal Son
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1620–69
St. Jerome in Prayer, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching
St. Jerome in Prayer
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1635
Portrait of Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol, Writing Master (the larger plate), Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching and drypoint; fourth state
Portrait of Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol, Writing Master (the larger plate)
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