Don't let the sihouette look of this nude fool you, for we all know Rembrandt could paint better than that.
REMBRANDT'S (The Danae) OIL ON CANVAS DOCUMENTED DATE OF PAINTING 1636.
Size 126cm x 151cm
Well, just maybe the way that he painted her was for his eyes only along with a few others who might have known or had eyes simular to his own who could see what he was trying to do.
This painting was attributed to an unknown Dutch artist by a Los Angles Museum and was traced back coming across the oregon trail, and it was considered to be antique in the early 1800's with some provenance that has been lost over the years. The painting I believe had hung in Rembrandt's art studio for over 20 years after he evidentially had given it away to his Lordship, the most gracious, Mr. Constantijn Huygens. This was a gift for him for obtaining Rembrandt a commission from the stadtholder himself of the United Provinces. Rembrandt received this commission in 1634 for the three theme paintings on the passion of Christ, and it took over four years in finishing them for delivery.
Mean while, Frederick Henry would not let Huygens have a moments peace, the Amsterdam Burgomaster, not until he received these three commissions. Needless to say, Huygens had Rembrandts gift returned immediately even before he unpacked it from the wood crate that it was delivered in. He told him that he didn't need any favors from him, and he damn sure wasn't doing him any more!
I do believe that Rembrandt took this returning of the work of art to heart, while not understanding completely the meaning of the returned gift. He would show it to his students and pupils, so that they would not make the same mistake that he did, and by this, I mean the silhouette look of young Danae. This is the young nude body of the daughter of the Greek King standing behind her, her father, the King of Argos from Greek Mythology. I over heard a comment from a viewer talking to her friend saying that she could not lye that way, even when she was younger, and I had to laugh to myself under my breath. I wanted to say, you had better be careful not to squint your eyes while looking at her, for you could more than likely find her lying in the dangerous ways that possibly you have many times before in your life.
The danae is documented as being sold at Rembrandt's bankruptcy auction in 1658, as item # 347, one large painting of "The Danae". It is now attributed by myself, Bob Miller to this great artist Rembrandt, one who seems today of loosing about 90% of his original works of art confirmed by these supposed art experts and historians of the Rembrandt Research Project, mostly paintings which have been concidered to have been his and done by his own hand for years and sometimes centuries.
Rembrandt: The Danae
One look at the Danae welcoming the golden shower, or whatever Rembrandt meant to call this glowing nude of a young girl lying on the gilded couch that she is lying on and definitely talked about in those way by one who were noted as seeing it. This alone should prove that the recovery of the Danae is now complete. It is a work of utter innocence, the theatricality of impregnation by Zeus as she is being visited by her father, King Acrisius as she is locked in her chambers.
Splendid as it is with its shimmering white and its flickering of gold vemillion, it remained in the world and of the world. All that was in the painting lay within the grasp of man - joy, its remembrance of joy, and the promise of its renewal; and these needed no exaggeration. The lips parted and the breasts swelled and the warm belly held the honey colored shadows in its tender hollows. The thighs lay softly against each other, and the moist, luxuriant triangle widened beneath the see-through silk and above her Zeus',.... for love itself wasn't enough as said,... more than enough, for Zeus is actually there.
The four apprentices who were working in the young master's studio in those days had taught themselves to talk about the painting in the safe terminology of the painter's trade not to offend or reveal the secret which Rembrandt included in the sihouettetion of the body. One of them would invite you to walk up to it under the pretext of seeing how delicately the halftones carried the brilliant light into the deepest shade. Another would ask you whether you had noticed the marvelous difference between the inanimate softness of the silken materials and the pillows, and the living resilience of the flesh, while a third would join in with feverish enthusiasm about how the hair drew in the vibrant reds, the deep rich browns, and the flickering and gleaming gold. The fourth would tell how the canvas spoke directly to the viewer, unashamedly, and with gratefulness of the inexhaustible delights of Love.
So again I say, while the fourth apprentice almost blowing it and coming so damn close in giving the secret completely away,.... this painting should now be proof that the recover of "The Danae" of Rembrandt's is now definitely complete.
This above is a small example of the yellow gold shower of vermilion's Rembrandt used as a representaion of Zeus attack of impregnation of the Danae. For goodness sakes don't forget to look at the craqulars in the paint and the warring out and deterioration of the canvas behind it.
Outside his lost, removed, or exchanged signatures, Rembrandt had his own protective way to deterime who the correct artist was on down the road. He was very much aware of what went on in the field of fine art and understood completely how peoples eyes worked.
A drawing study of "The Danae", to where the King's Orical, or should I say fortune teller looks to be appologizing to him for telling the King he would be killed by a grandson. No less,.. this was said right in front of the only means of a grandson,... the princess Danae, and she looks to be weeping. On her right is her father with his ceptor in hand and a pretty good representation of him sitting on his throne in the right-hand bottom corner. In the left-hand upper corner is where these vermillions are swooping in as the shower of gold and going straight to the representation of the attact presented in the tablecloth at the middle bottom.
Rembrandt Drawing
Definition: Drawing study for the Mythological tale of "The Danae".
After Persius cut the head off of the Medusa, Danae and her son was granted passage back to Argos. Danae goes and finds her father in the bottom right of the drawing and brings him reluctantly to the games, where her son Persius entered the tri-Tryathlon games and is throwing the discus. When his turn came the heavy missile swerved and fell amongst the spectators where his grandfather was sitting and he was struck by the discus. The blow he received was fatal, and he was killed immediately. Middle top; A study of Danae, when she was locked up. Top left: A study of her father at the time he was King. Bottom left: Danae standing by watching the angel take her father away in the middle because he did not kill his grandson and her to protect himself. So Apollo's oracle was once again proven right.
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