Portrait of Nicolaes van Bambeeck

Catalogue number: Bredius 218.

Around 1640 Rembrandt painted a number of portraits of distinguished, withdrawn figures, all bathed in subdued light. These include Nicolaas van Bambeeck, a relatively well-off wool merchant from Amsterdam and of his wife Agatha Bas. She was the daughter of Dirck Jacobsz. Bas, several times burgomaster of Amsterdam from 1610 onwards. In other words, the two spouses came from somewhat different social backgrounds. The sublime matching portrait of the magnificently dressed, innocent-looking young woman belongs to the collection of Queen Elisabeth II of England.

The two portraits were conceived as a unity in every way. A strong, formal bond was created between the two through the repeating of a broad trompe-l'oeil ebony moulding, forming bays from where the standing models lean slightly forwards and which was probably picked up by the moulding of the frames in which the two portraits were originally mounted. Through the artistic trick of having fingers and attributes run over the edge of the trompe-l'oeil moulding, the artist causes the fictional space of the figures to subtly flow over into the viewer's real space. Nicolaas van Bambeeck's pose, itself inspired by Titian's Portrait of Ariosto, was frequently imitated by Rembrandt's contemporaries in other portraits.

The spouses' characteristics are revealed largely by a number of oppositions in their body poses, in the sign language of their hands, in their facial expressions and in highly significant details such as crushed gloves versus an open fan, their respective attributes. What we have here is a subtle play of thesis and antithesis, which can obviously only be recognised as such when both portraits "dialogue" directly with each other.

The two canvases went their separate ways as early as 1814, and the full effect of one portrait on another can today be demonstrated only by placing photographic reproductions together. But even before the paintings were separated, both underwent treatment that drastically changed their appearance: for an unknown reason they were considerably trimmed back on all four side, thereby losing most of the trompe-l'oeil effect. There are certain paintings that one can never again look at with an open mind, once one has tried to reconstruct them in one's imagination as they originally looked.