This quote is from the Dutch painter Samuel Van Hoogstraten. He was born nearly 400 years ago in Dordrecht and lived to be only 51. He studied with Rembrandt and became one of his most internationally famous students at the time. Now largely forgotten as a painter, scholars still appreciate his book "Introduction to the Academy of Painting : or the Visible World". The book provides insights into Van Hoogstraten’s theoretical and practical views on painting. However, it may be even more appreciated for its passages on Rembrandt, as the latter did not leave many written sources himself.

The Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna combined forces. In Amsterdam this led to an exhibition, which restored Van Hoogstraten’s paintings to public consciousness. The exhibition itself has, alas, just closed, but its senior curator, Leonore van Sloten gave us a lively insight into Van Hoogstraten’s art. She described Van Hoogstraten as a master illusionist.

Nowadays the word ’illusionist’ is associated largely with magicians who appear on stage and make rabbits disappear. However, in art, being a master illusionist was over centuries the highest praise for a painter, who is capable to create the illusion of a real object or a moving scene on the flat surface of a canvas. To illustrate this, Leonore told us Pliny the Elder’s story of the painting contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasius to determine who the better painter is. Zeuxis painted grapes which appeared so real that birds tried to eat them. Parrhasius’ painting was concealed behind a curtain, but when Zeuxis wanted to pull aside the curtain, it turned out that this was actually the painting ! Parrhasius won as he deceived Zeuxis. The latter only managed to deceive the birds !

Leonore explained to us that "The ability to create an illusion was one of the most basic necessities of any artist." Van Hoogstraten describes the techniques to achieve these effects in his book as "Advancing, receding, and foreshortening [which is the] most splendid part of the art of painting." Rembrandt taught this to Van Hoogstraten : for example, the painter can make people appear to be caught by the artist in the middle of a movement. Leonore illustrated this with Rembrandt’s most famous painting The Night Watch : The figures are painted in life size, the commander is about to give an order, the smoke of a just-fired musket can be seen, and the dog cowers frightened by the noise. Leonore showed us paintings by Van Hoogstraten which directly reference the Night Watch.

Later, Van Hoogstraten perfected illusionism. He did so not only by painting people who look at us and literally seem to be about to leave their frame. The ’Poster Boy’ of the exhibition, an old man looking out of a window, seems to be observing you. You feel nearly embarrassed by looking at him too long. He might just speak and admonish you for staring. Van Hoogstraten’s signature on the painting appears to be carved into the stone into which the window with the old man is set, but it is just painted !

Most famous are Van Hoogstraten’s letter racks. According to Van Hoogstraten, painting ‘flat objects on a flat surface’ is a very effective way to create an illusion. In Vienna, emperor Ferdinand III rewarded Van Hoogstraten with a golden medal on a golden chain for a painted letter rack, which he, the emperor, considered so real that he wanted to pick up the painted objects.

While listening to these explanations by Leonore, I had to think of the Belgian painter Magritte, who had felt the need to explain to the viewer that a perfectly realistically painted pipe is indeed no such thing but is just a painting. I also thought of the Dutch artist Escher who painted water flowing upwards and other impossible things in what seemed realistic drawings. It appears that with the advent of photography and moving pictures art has had to find other ways to make us see reality ! Abstract art, surrealism and most recently hyperrealism, might be ways to make us view reality in other ways than that which we nowadays often take from a screen.

Nevertheless, the art of Van Hoogstraten has not lost its fascination throughout the centuries. The Rembrandt House Museum must be commended for reintroducing him to the wider world. Thanks to the art appreciation of the Dutch Group of our Association, we could all share in this highly interesting rediscovery. The Dutch Embassy hosted this event, by welcoming us to its beautiful new building on the Rue de Trèves and generously providing us with lekkere broodjes, tasty wine and Dutch appeltaart ! Hartelijk bedankt.

Gudrun SCHMIDT
German Group