Rembrandt Drawing in Silverpoint Time Lapse

In this video I make a study of Rembrandt van Rijn’s silverpoint portrait of his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh using a homemade stylus. Materials used: silver coin, silver wire, maple wood, artist board prepared with watercolor tinted gesso, gesso brush. More information on this drawing from The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Rembrandt frequently portrayed his young wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh. Some of his studies show her in the infirmary; In 1642 Saskia died after a long illness at the age of 30 years. One of the most personal testimonies of Rembrandt’s hand is the Berlin silver pen drawing, which was created as a reminder of his resignation. Saskia supports her head, covered with a wide-brimmed hat, on her left arm, holding a flower in her right hand, perhaps a rose. It alludes to love and marriage, but also to transitoriness. “Vita rosa est,“ was a baroque saying, human life is like a rose that blooms today and withers tomorrow. The execution, especially in the half-shaded face, is of exceptional fineness. The writing lines form part of the composition, Rembrandt considered their place from the beginning. He noted here, “This was drawn after my wife when she was 21 years old, on the third day when we were married. June 8, 1633 “. The word married refers to the marriage promise; The wedding took place on June 22, 1634. Rembrandt likes the leaf, which was probably framed, as confirmation of his bride’s promise to the bride, who looks at him, the draftsman, with a tender smile. The character of a document is already obtained by the choice of the image carrier, because parchment was usually used for documents. The silver pen, which is drawn on primed parchment, was in use in the late Middle Ages. Around 1600, the Dutchman Jacques de Gheyn and He-drick Goltzius took up this technique again, and their finely modeled portrait drawings will have reminded Rembrandt of his bride’s portrait. Text: Holm Bevers in: The Berlin Kupferstichkabinett. A collection handbook, ed. by Alexander Dückers, 2nd edition, Berlin 1994, p. 208 f., cat. (with further literature)