Rembrandt, An Elderly Man as Saint Paul
probably 1659Paintings sorted by   Historical period  |   Painter  |  Subject matter  |  Pigments used
Overview
Rembrandt, An Elderly Man as Saint Paul shows the apostle with a book and a sword as his attributes. The pigment analysis revealed a palette consisting of red, brown and yellow ochres, bone black, lead white, vermilion, smalt, and azurite.
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 102 x 85.5 cm
Art period: Baroque
Painting in the Rembrandt Database
Pigments
Pigment Analysis
This pigment analysis is based on the work of the scientists at the National Gallery London (1).
1 Dark background in the left lower edge: smalt, bone black mixed with red lake. The smalt has deteriorated and lost its color to a greater extent and also caused the darkening of the varnish.
2 Warm deep brown cover of the book: lake pigments, red and yellow ochre, and bone black.
3 Dark golden-brown book cover: underlayer consists of bone black and smalt. The upper layer contains ochres and black with the addition of vermilion.
4 Brown robe: underlayer of ochres, red lake, and some white overglazed with a warm reddish-brown glaze containing small amounts of pale blue azurite besides red, black, and brown pigments.
5 Flesh paint: lead white tinted with red and brown ochre.
6Â Red highlight on the cap: red and brownish-yellow ochre.
7Â Background in the upper right edge:Â smalt, bone black and red lake.
References
(1) Bomford, D. et al., Art in the making: Rembrandt, New edition, Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 160-65.
Pigments Used in This Painting
Resources
See the collection of online and offline resources such as books, articles, videos, and websites on Rembrandt in the section ‘Resources on Painters‘
PowerPoint Presentations
Painter in Context: Rembrandt
A richly illustrated presentation on the painting technique and pigments employed by Hieronymus Bosch specially crafted for Art Education. (Number of Slides = 20)
- Each presentation starts with the basic resources on the painter such as his biography, main catalogs of his paintings, and a bibliography.
- Next, you find slides describing the painting technique of the artist and the pigments he usually employed in his work.
- The majority of the slides show examples of paintings containing the specific pigments.
The majority of the slides show important examples of paintings where Rembrandt employed specific pigments. The slides are organized according to the color of the pigments.
Publications and Websites
Publications
A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, Volumes I – VI, by the scientists of The Rembrandt Research Project are available on the website of The Rembrandt Database in pdf-Format.
(1) Bomford, D. et al., Art in the making: Rembrandt, New edition, Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 160-65.
(2) Rembrandt’s late religious portraits, At the Getty Center, June 7–August 28, 2005, available as pdf.
