As part of their 400th anniversary celebration of the birth of Rembrandt, the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam will host “The Jewish Rembrandt“—a collection of the Dutch artist’s works that deal with Jewish themes. Rembrandt is popularly thought of as having a special affinity for Judaism, but this exhibition promises a more critical and in depth look at the impact of Jewish religion and culture on his work than ever before. The exhibit runs until February 4, 2007.
But even if you can’t make it to Amsterdam, Steven Nadler’s new book Rembrandt’s Jews is a revealing exploration of Rembrandt’s work along similar lines. In his elegantly written and engrossing tour of Jewish Amsterdam, Steven Nadler tells us the stories of the artist’s portraits of Jewish sitters, of his mundane and often contentious dealings with his neighbors in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam, and of the tolerant setting that city provided for Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews fleeing persecution in other parts of Europe. Through his detailed analysis of the Rembrant’s work, as well as that of several other prominant Dutch painters, Nadler is able to build a deep and complex account of the remarkable relationship between Dutch and Jewish cultures in the period.
Read an excerpt from the book.