Art Encounter #1 - Bathsheba at Her Bath

Artist: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Title: Bathsheba at Her Bath
Medium: Oil on Canvass
Date: 1654
Location: The Louvre, Paris

The biblical story says that King David saw Bathsheba bathing from his roof top, fell in love with her, and sent for her. According to the Louve website, Rembrandt's life-size painting of Bathsheba is after she has received the royal summons to come to King David. She is holding the letter form the King and is lost in thought as she contemplates the request. A NYU website suggested that this work was “done in a period when intense scrutiny was fastened on the human anatomy...” This would correspond to page 10 of our text book “A Beginners Guide to the Humanities” which states that Renaissance art had an emphasis on “realistic detail.”

The story of Bathsheba is tragic as she is already married to Uriah when she becomes the object of King David’s attention. In 2 Samuel 11:1-2, King David sends Uriah to his death: "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die." Of course, this part of the story unfolds after Bathsheba receives the royal summons, but the possible death or Uriah may be one of the things she was contemplating in this painting. Rembrandt tells the other side of the story, as the bible does not address how Bathsheba may have felt about the Kings summons. She may also be thinking about how precipitous an act of sin this could become. I suspect she could not easily reject the Kings advances.

The light appears to fall on her and even come from her as it is reflected. Much of the room is obscure and dark bringing the focus back to her. This contrast of light and dark would be the use and mastery of chiaroscuro. There is a servant washing Bathsheba’s feet, but she appears to be focused on the task at hand, but may also be concerned for Bathsheba. Although Bathsheba is naked, I was immediately drawn to her face. Her face really tells the whole story. I suppose she is naked so that we may see her as David would have seen her. While there is a very sensual element to her, it doesn’t seem overstated. The fact that she is being washed makes the nudity acceptable in its unremarkable routine. By painting her with the level of detail, it reveals some of her imperfections which makes her feel more honest and vulnerable. I feel her contemplating expression characterizes sadness.

Apparently, Rembrandt used his own companion Hendrickje Stoffels as a model. Below are paintings of Hendrickje and Rembrandt around the time of Bathsheba at Her Bath.

Hendrikje Stoffels, bathing in a river, 1654

Rembrandt Self Portrait 1654

Hendrickje and Rembrandt were criticized by the church for living together and having a daughter outside of marriage. One perspective of Rembrandt's decision to paint Bathsheba is that Rembrandt “used David's misdeed as an opportunity to paint his experience of guilt, too.”

Concept Blog #1

The Renaissance In My Daily Life

I think the Renaissance is reflected as a foundation in many of the things around me. I started by thinking about the major contributions of the Renaissance. Where would these concepts be readily apparent? Art was one of the changes that defined this time and one popular form was the fresco. A very famous fresco was the ceiling of Sistine Chapel and the “Creation of Adam”, painted by Michelangelo.

Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Creation of Adam

While frescoes are still used today I wondered what the modern equivalent might be. In the Sistine Chapel, the ideas was to tell a story through pictures. Today, I see that same concept when I look at graffiti. Here is one found in Arizona:

This painting is still trying to create a message. It quotes Hunter S. Thompson: “Morality is temporary, wisdom is permanent.” So here we have two artists both carrying a message from a written text. One the Bible and other “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

I also thought of Natural Philosophy and where that may be apparent in its carryover. I recently read “The Little Book of String Theory” by Steven S. Gubser. It goes outside of observable scientific evidence and builds on theoretical probability. So how does this relate to the Renaissance? Well, Galileo provided us Galilean Relativity, where motion is relative to speed, which required Einstein to develop an explanation for relativity in relation to things moving at the speed of light, where light represents the limitations of speed. Here is a quick explanation:

In turn, quantum mechanics and string theory build further on motion and relatively. It is also a reminder of how far we’ve come in science and what the possibilities still are.