A new exhibit at Amsterdam’s Rembrandthuis spotlights the work of one of Rembrandt’s most successful pupils, Samuel van Hoogstraten, the master illusionist. The exhibit runs through May 4.
Van Hoogstraten was commercially successful even as Rembrandt fell out of style and descended into poverty. Van Hoogstraten became wealthy on commissions for portraits and other works, including intricate still lifes of letter racks so complete in their illusion that the Emperor of Austria is said to have tried to pick a letter off the board.
Epco Runia, head of the collection at the Rembrandthuis, said the exhibition shows the paintr’s breadth. “He’s a painter where you think – oh, yes, he wrote a book on art history, he made paintings of 17th century letter racks, but then you look at the work and you see portraits, a landscape here and there, architecture, a still life: there’s everything,” he said. “But what it has in common is the way the visible world is portrayed as realistically as possible, as alluringly as possible and preferably with a visual deceit. Illusionism is the common thread.”
A highlight of the exhibit is Old Man at a Window; it’s being shown without a frame to emphasize its illusion of three-dimensionality. The feather and small objects on the window sill add to the illusion, and Van Hoogstraten’s signature appears to be carved into the sill.
