17th and 18th Centuries - Rembrandt

" This marvellous artist is probably one of the greatest and most profoundly poetic painters of all time. " Baroque Painting II, Philippe Daudy (1968)

The Woman Bathing in a Stream 

The inspiration behind the model was Hendrikje Stoffels, a young woman who Rembrandt later made a common-law wife, she was a muse for some of his other works such as The Susanna and Bathsheba.

" One, Woman Bathing in a Stream, is the portrait of the real Hendrickje, with all the lightness and heaviness of love's emotion and lassitude : the other, Bathsheda, both more public and more secret, reveals still more of the Hendrickje who crowned Rembrandt's nights. " Baroque Painting II, Philippe Daudy (1968) page 27

This piece of work was not commissioned by anybody but was just for the artist, it was however bought in 1829 and brought to the National Gallery two years later.

The light is coming in from the left and appears to be natural as she has been painted outside, I feel like the shadows draw attention to the eyes are they are along the line of the shadow.

With the model not looking towards the painter it creates the impression that she immersed in her own world.

" The drama is in the completely unselfconscious self-absorption of this girl " Masterpieces of the Tate and National Galleries, Sir John Rothenstein and Sir Philip Hendy (1964)

Self Portraits

These images are only two of Rembrandt's many self portraits, both of these have the lighting style that is typical of Rembrandt ( light coming in from the side, with a triangle of light on the cheek ). The light can be created by using natural light or artificial  many paintings were created with natural lighting from windows however I feel to get this effect that Rembrandt is using Lamps so that he can position the lamp so that he can see both his reflection and the canvas.

The triangle of light comes from the shadow of the nose connecting with the cheek shadows, this can easily be recreated in the studio using flash lights. The light is placed to the side between the model and the camera, it is also slightly higher than the models face so that when pointed towards the model the shadow from the nose points down into the cheek shadow, the light may need to be moved around to get the effect just right.

The image above is part of a set that was posted in my old college studio showing lighting setups, how to create them and what the effect they create. These images and similar are easily available online or in most studio information books.