Focus on this artwork and explain the Circles.
The meaning of the background has generated much speculation. The flat surface behind Rembrandt has been interpreted as either a wall or stretched canvas. Among the theories explaining the significance of the arced lines is that they are drawn on a wall, or that they represent hemispheres in a map of the world, a common design feature of Dutch homes; however, the circles contain no geographical references and are placed rather far apart. It has been suggested that the circles represent the rota aristotelis – the Aristotelian idea of the true form of the world – or have kabbalistic significance. It has also been theorized that the circles symbolize perfection of artistic skill, as in the story of the Italian master Giotto being summoned by the pope to demonstrate his artistry and responding by drawing a perfect circle in a single motion. A similar story involves Apelles, court painter to Alexander the Great, and fellow artist Protogenes, each engaged in drawing "perfect" lines. That the circles may serve a compositional function, that of geometric structure, is also a possibility.Against the "map" theory of Benjamin P. J. Broos and Jeanne Porter, Saskia Beranek writes, "The problem with this interpretation, according to the detractors (who include Ernst van de Wetering and the Rembrandt Research Project) is that the circles are too far apart to represent the two circles of a map, and that the wrinkling and curling of maps on walls seen in other paintings is not present."Reviewing the literature that attempts to explain the pair of inscribed circles, Perry Chapman poses an “alternative reading” to the iconographic focus, which “ignore[s] the visual effect as a whole.” According to Jan Gerrit van Gelder, Chapman notes, the circles would be "17th-century cabalistic symbols representing the perfection of God” “To read them as purely abstract forms,” however, “would be out of keeping with Dutch painting in general, and Rembrandt’s in particular,” writes Chapman. Jan Emmans "reads them emblematically, ideal of painting as a combination of inborn talent, theory, and practice—ingenium, ars, and usus or exercitatio." Likewise, Chapman notes how Kurt Bauch and Henri van de Waal speak of "perfectly drawn circles." Chapman notes, however, that the circles are actually "two partial circles—not the single perfect circle crucial to the anecdote. Moreover, the image of a steady drawing hand seems hardly the message of this work’s extreme painterliness.”Rather, Chapman writes, the Kenwood self-portrait “is concerned with practice. Not only does Rembrandt present himself in working attire in his studio, but his broad, insistent, rough technique calls attention to the painting process. The portrait reaffirms his identity as anchored in the mastery of his art.”
Rembrandt Research Project Alexander the Great iconographic Protogenes canvas painterliness Rembrandt cabalistic Ernst van de Wetering Giotto abstract Aristotel Apelles rota aristotelis