Rembrandt Methodology(Late Style)

1.Rembrandt would size his canvas with a thin application of rabbit skin glue, scrubbed into the weave rather than laid on as a solid layer. 14 parts water to 1part glue granules.

2.A ground was applied with oil priming white. This was scraped on with a broadly curving knife. (Two coats of scraped applications). The white ground was then covered with a reddish brown ground, something like a burnt siena or umber.

3.After minimal drawing with chalk, Rembrandt would then begin laying in flat areas of color specifically meant as an optical underlayment to the specific part of the body. For example he would use gray as a foundation for the eyes. It appears that he would both paint the figure from observation as well as synthetically (without the live model). After this flat imprimatura using only dead color palette, Rembrandt would then backlight the figures with thin gradations of often a cooler color than the brown ground, thus creating a silhouette of the foreground. Then he would follow this using a dead color palette to model the figures.

4.Glazes, and velatura are applied in combination with heavy impasto application especially at the light mass. Rembrandt appears to mix colors both mechanically and optically. One can see a heavy build up of modeling followed by a synthesizing glaze that also darkens the heavily texture form. This technique represents a muscular will to make strong assertions and then quiet them down in order to harmonize the picture.

5.Final Glazing serves to darken and unify shadow areas while final velatura (glazing with white plus a color) is used to unify and group elements in the light zones.