Abstract
The Polish Rider has always stirred the imagination because of its intriguing subject; but in recent decades, the question of its attribution has also attracted wide attention. Ever since Bruyn cautiously suggested in a book re view in 1984 that the Polish Rider might possibly be by Willem Drost, controversy has surrounded this famous work.1 The unusual nature of the subject contributes in no small measure to the difficulties of interpreting both the icono - graphy and function of the painting, and its attribution. The condition of the work, especially in the background and the terrain in the foreground, moreover, makes it hard to assess the painting properly. In this entry the attribution of this unfinished painting to Rembrandt will be defended. Certain areas, however, may have been completed by another hand.
The conclusions of this entry have already been summarized in E. van de Wetering, The painter at work, Amsterdam 1997/2009, pp. 207-21. E. van de Wetering, ‘Thirty years of the Rembrandt Research Project: The Tension Between Science and Connoisseurship in Authenticating Art.’ in: IFAR Journal, International Foundation for At Research, New York, Vol. 4, Number 2, 2001, pp. 14-24.
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Notes
J. Bruyn, ‘[review of] Sumowski Gemälde I’, O.H. 98 (1984), pp. 146–162, esp. 158. For a discussion of the controversy, see: A. Bailey, Responses to Rembrandt, New York 1993, esp. pp. 83-96.
C. Grimm, ‚Gewitterlandschaften zur Ausdruckssprache des spaten Rem-Brandts‘, Kunstpresse 5 (1991), pp. 23–28, esp. 24.
Sumowski Gemälde I, no. 311; J. Bikker, Willem Drost (1633-1658). A Rembrandt pupil in Amsterdam, Rome and Venice, doct. thesis Utrecht 2001, p. 63 no. 1.
Exhib. cat. Rembrandt. Paintings, 1991/92, cat. no. 82.
W. Bode, Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei, Braunschweig 1883, p. 499: ‚ein junger polnischer Magnat in seinem Nationalkostüm‘.
A. Ciechanowiecki, ‘Notes on the Polish Rider’, Art Bull. 42 (1960), pp. 294–296. Before Ciechanowiecki published this letter, it was generally assumed that the painting had been bought by Michaĺ Kleophas Ogiński, who was Polish Envoy Extraordinary to Holland and England in 1790-91, for the collection of the Polish king. The article discusses the source of this misunderstanding.
See Ciechanowiecki, op. cit.7, p. 295. See also J.S. Held, ‘Rembrandt’s Polish Rider’, Art Bull. 26 (1944), pp. 246–265. In this entry use has been made of the revised version in: Rembrandt’s “Aristotle” and other Rembrandt studies, Princeton 1969, pp. 45-84, esp. 49; B.P.J. Broos, ‘Rembrandt’s portrait of a Pole and his horse’, Simiolus 7 (1974), pp. 192-218, esp. 214.
Held, op. cit.8, pp. 51-52. See also J.A. Chrościcki, ‘Rembrandt’s Polish Rider. Allegory or portrait?’, Ars Auro Prior. Studia Ioanni Bialostocki sexa genario Dicata, Warsaw 1981, pp. 441–448, esp. 443.
Bode, op. cit.6, p. 499; Z. Żygulski, ‘Rembrandt’s „Lisowczyk“: a study of cos tume and weapons’, Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie 6 (1965), pp. 43–67, esp. 55; J. Biaĺostocki, ‘Rembrandt’s „Eques Polonus“’, O.H. 84 (1969), pp. 163-176, esp. 167; Broos, op. cit.8, pp. 194 and 218; Chrościcki, op. cit.10, p. 446.
See Held, op. cit.8, pp. 55-56 and Broos, op. cit.8, pp. 194-198; on the equestrian portrait in the Netherlands see also C. Dumas, exhib. cat. In het zadel. Het Nederlands ruiterportret van 1550 tot 1900, Fries Museum, Leeu war-den/Noordbrabants Museum,’ s Hertogenbosch/Provinciaal Museum van Drenthe, Assen, 1979/1980.
Moreover, during the 17th century the prefix eques was used in Poland to distinguish members of the non-senatorial nobility (Ordo equestris). Broos, op. cit.8, p. 216, note 61, also makes this point and Bialostocki, op. cit.12, p. 175, concedes as much. E. Haverkamp-Begemann, ‘The present state of Rembrandt studies’, Art Bull. 53 (1971), pp. 98–99, refutes Bialostocki’s interpretation altogether.
W.R. Valentiner, ‘Rembrandt’s conception of historical portraiture’, Art Quarterly 11 (1948), pp. 116–135, esp. 130-135. Bauch 1966, p. 12, agrees with Valentiner’s interpretation. This identification is, however, most unlikely since according to Vondel’s text Gijsbrecht was already very old when he undertook this journey; moreover, he travelled by boat.
By J.Z. Kannegieter, ‚De Poolse Ruiter I-II‘, Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis 24/4 (1970), pp. 81–88. The play was first performed in 1647 and was published as: Sigismundus, prince van Poolen, Amsterdam 1654.
Schwartz 1984, pp. 277-278. It appeared in print as: J. Serwouters, Den grooten Tamerlan, met de doodt van Bayaset de I, Turks Keizer, Amsterdam 1657. A particular difficulty with this identification is that the first performance of the play was not until 1657. Schwartz accordingly dates the painting around 1657.
I Sam. 18:27; see L.J. Slatkes, Rembrandt and Persia, New York 1983, p. 84, and in: L.J. Slatkes, Rembrandt, catalogo completo, Florence 1992, no. 28, pp. 68-70.
27. For a critical review of Rembrandt’s supposed borrowings from the Am-sterdam theatre and in particular criticism of Schwartz’s standpoint, see: M. Meyer Drees, ‚Rembrandt en het toneel in Amsterdam‘, Nieuwe taalgids 70/5 (1985), pp. 414–421.
C.G. Campbell, ‘Rembrandt’s Polish Rider and the Prodigal Son’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 33 (1970), pp. 292–303, and by the same author: ‘The identity of Rembrandt’s Polish Rider’, in: O. v. Simson and J. Kelch (eds.), Neue Beiträge zur Rembrandt-Forschung, Berlin 1973, pp. 126-134.
On the Polish costume, see: I. Turnau, History of dress in central and eastern Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Warsaw 1991, pp. 71–85. On Polish weapons, see: Z.Żygulski,, Broń w Dawnej Polsce, Warsaw 1975. Compare also the weapons and dress in the portraits in the exhib. cat. Where East meets West. Portrait of personages of the Polish-Lithuanian Common wealth, 1576-1763, The National Museum Warsaw 1993, nos. 28, 56, 57, 64, 106, 174.
Żyygulski, op. cit.12. Cropping horses’ ears was not a typically Polish practice but a fashion that was common throughout Europe in the 17th century. Especially in Germany but in other Northern European countries too the nostrils of almost all horses were also slit open. See J. de Solleysel, Le parfait Maréchal, The Hague 1691 (8th edition), vol. II, p. 8; D.J. Kok, Wahrheit und Dichtung in den Reiter-und Pferdegemälden und Zeichnungen berühmter Holländischer Maler, Würzburg 1933, p. 14.
For example, the 1680 inventory of Joan Snel lists the portraits of a man and a woman ‚op sijn Poolsch uytgehaelt ‘(dressed Polish style). GAA, not. M. Baars, NA 3758 A, act 687, pp. 228–259, dd. 7 February 1680.
Blankert Bol, cat. no. 139. Although the arms of the Van der Waeyen family at the top right are a later addition, the identification of the sitter is fairly certain. Such arms were often added on the basis of the family tradition about the person portrayed, and the inventory of Dirck van der Waeyen, Otto’s father, of 14 July 1670 lists ‚een conterfeytsel van Otto van der Waeyen door Ferdinand Bol ‘(a portrait of Otto van der Waeyen by Ferdinand Bol). GAA, not. N. Brouwer, NA 3928, fol. 139-150, dd. 14 July 1670. The inventory does not mention any of the weapons depicted in the painting. Otto van der Wayen’s clothing is also missing. This identification is further supported on the grounds of the provenance by R.E.O. Ekkart in: exhib. cat. Nederlandse Portretten uit de 17e eeuw, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam 1995, pp. 54–56.
For example, in Albert Cuyp’s Michiel and Cornelis Pompe van Meerdervoort with their tutor starting for the hunt, c. 1652-53, canvas 109.9 x 156.2 cm; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 32.100.20.
Another painting that can be characterised as a Polish tronie is Pieter Quast’s Man in Polish costume of 1638 (III A 122 fig. 5). See also the paint ing of a Boy in Polish costume by Karel Slabbaert (ill. in Sumowski Gemälde I, p. 519).
Broos, op. cit.8, pp. 208-209. For additional examples, see P. van Leeuwen, Amsterdamse gevelstenen, Amsterdam 1974, esp. p. 186.
See J.Ph.S. Lemmink & J.S.A. van Koningsbrugge (eds.), Baltic affairs; relations between the Netherlands and North-Eastern Europe 1500-1800, Nijmegen 1990; M. North, ‚Kunst en handel, culturele betrekkingen tussen Neder-land en steden in het zuidelijk Oostzeegebied‘, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 87 (1995), pp. 259-266; L. Thijssen, 1000 jaar Polen en Nederland, Zutphen 1992.
For an overview of these pamphlets, see F. Muller, Essai d’une Bibliographie Neerlando-Russe, Amsterdam 1859. The Dutch were particularly sym pathetic when the Swedes invaded Poland in the spring and blockaded Gdańsk. At this the Polish king asked the States-General to help by sending a fleet to Gdańsk. On 9 March 1656 the Dutch sent a delegation to negotiate with the Swedes. On 28 May 1656 a fleet under the com mand of De Ruyter sailed for the Baltic. See R. Frost, After the Deluge: Poland-Lithuania and the Second Northern War 1655-1660, Cambridge 1993.
Such as A. Booth, Iournael, van de legatie gedaen in de Iaren 1627 en 1628, Amsterdam 1632, p. 12: ‘… wat militie ghemeenlick in Poolen wert gevonden: De Hussaren ofte Lanciers op wiens forces zy haer meest vertrouwen, sijn int gemeen vande voorneemste Edellieden vant Lant, zijn seer prachtigh in Kleederen ende gewaet van hare Paerden, … boven haer Sabel diese op de zijde draghen, hebben noch een Palache onder de Sadel van haer Paerden steekcen, ‘t welck by naer soo langh is, als een steeck-kade.’ (… the militia normally found in Poland: The Hussars or Lancers, on which they rely the most, are generally made up of the principal nobles of the country; they are splendidly dressed and their horses finely caparisoned, … as well as the sabre carried at the side they have a sabre stuck under the horse’s saddle which is almost as long as a rapier); A. Cellarius, Het Koningryck Poolen en toebehorende landen, Amsterdam 1660 (earlier Latin version Amsterdam 1659), p. 34: ‚Oock wort’er gheseyt dat den Konick hondert en vijftigh duysent Ruyters, soo van lichte als sware wapeninge ten oorlogh in ‚t velt kan brengen: dese winnen geen soldy,… ‘(It is also said that the King can put into the field one hundred and fifty thousand horsemen, both lightly and heavily armed: they receive no pay ment,… ); ibid., p. 45: ‚Alsoo dat in der Polen Oorloghen den Edeldom de meeste ende beste Ruytery maeckt ‘(So that in the Polish wars the nobility form the best and larger part of the calvary).
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Van De Wetering, E. (2011). Rembrandt (with later additions), The Polish Rider. In: A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5786-1_25
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