The Art of Rembrandt

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The Art of Rembrandt
1606-1669
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Objective

• To scientifically measure Rembrandts palette
• To find patterns throughout his lifetime
• To comment on the life of a great artist

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What We Did. . .

• scan Rembrandts paintings
• write a computer program to measure
  red/green/blue (RGB) values for each pixel in
  Rembrandts paintings
• write a computer program to convert the levels of
  RGB to hue/ saturation/value (HSV)

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the early years. . .

• The Baroque Period
• The later period of the Renaissance (1600-1750)
• Dynamic look
• Use of strong diagonals
• Clashing light and shadows
• Rembrandt
• Early years of happiness
• Saskia
• Relative success

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the early years. . .

• Tobit and Anna 1626

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the early years. . .

• First Self-Portrait 1929

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the early years. . .

• Self Portrait in an Oriental Costume with a Dog
• 1631

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the early years. . .

• Anatomy Lesson
• with Dr. Tulp
• 1632

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the early years. . .

• Self Portrait with Saskia
• 1635

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the transition

• Known as transitional years
• 1640-1648
• Some interesting effects
• Winter Scene
• Christ at Emmaus
• Very end of transition
• Softness
• Subtler effects
• Less contrast in value
• Less saturation

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the transition. . .

• Winter Scene
• 1646

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the transition

• Christ at
• Emmaus
• 1648

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the later years. . .

• the next phase
• Movement towards classicism
• Maturity
• Appreciation of subtleties
• Never fully classical
• Softer
• Inner turbulence
• Inner calm

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the later years. . .

• Self Portrait
• 1650

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the later years. . .

• Self Portrait
• 1652

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the later years. . .

• The Polish Rider
• 1655

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the later years. . .

• A Late Self-Portrait
• 1656

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the later years. . .

• The Prodigal Son
• 1669

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Results

• Baroque
• Dramatic darks/lights
• Two peaks in value
• Brilliance
• Higher mean saturation
• Transition
• Interesting effects
• Classicism
• Integrated darks/lights
• Dark peak in value
• Subtle color
• Lower saturation

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Results

• Consistencies
• Warm paintings
• Small range of hues
• concentration around red
• Violet/blue outliers
• Low saturation
• Subtleties in color
• Generally below 60
• Smooth value curve