History Painting

The dating of Rembrandt's painting has proven notoriously difficult but in this case of this painting, even the title itself is undecided

The temporary choice of History Painting enables everyone to know which artwork is being referred to and roughly describes the content of this piece. Quite precisely what was the inspiration for this, perhaps a biblical story or something from more modern history, we simply do not know.

The style is very much of the early stages of Rembrandt's career, before he started to use light in such a revolutionary way. The date for this piece of 1626 would put the artist at around 20 years of age, which certainly fits in with that.

The scene features a plethora of soldiers plus a cover of shields and weapons lying on the floor. Most likely it would appear to be a post-battle meeting over how then to proceed. Several people kneel to respect presumably either a King or ruler of the victorious side.

Despite the research into this piece, still very little is known about it. Its currently owned by the Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal in Leiden from where Rembrandt was born and several other famous artists were based. Jan Steen is probably the best known of the others.

The Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal in Leiden holds a good collection of Flemish and Netherlandish paintings and altarpieces, including several others by Rembrandt himself.