April 24
Hello, all.
Beautiful day today, sunny in the low
60s. We’re about 12 degrees farther north than home, but the season is only a
week or two behind North Jersey.
The highlights yesterday were a visit
to the Westerkerk while the organist rehearsed. It is an austere, largely white
Protestant interior with a few figures over the door, but they are more
civic-political iconography than religious, putting me in mind of the phrase
the docent used in the Utrecht Dom, “new idolatry.” Well, I guess everybody has
it.
We lit more candles for the Burning
Bush. (There’s a photo of the bush in the “Harry Travels” entry posted August
30 last year.)
This time, I got some video of the
interior while the organist worked.
The congregation focuses on a table
and lectern and all around the church at every pillar is a raised, enclosed
platform. I don’t know how these were used. They may be boxed seats for
distinguished parishioners, like the vestry or benefactors. Or they could be
outposts for armed guards making sure everyone behaves.
After the Westerkerk, Joanna got to
see my favorite place in Amsterdam that doesn’t sell beer, Rembrandt’s House.
It is where he lived for two or three decades. He was a very prosperous artist
and art dealer. The walls in the first floor of the house are covered with
paintings including one that was discovered after restoration to be a genuine
Rembrandt. Others are by unknown artists, probably students of Rembrandt. Many
of those are copies of original works by older masters and by Rembrandt
himself. Some of the paintings are by Rembrandt’s master, Pieter Lastman.
It’s what the place would have looked
like when Rembrandt lived there because all of these paintings would have been
for sale.
There is an audio tour that details
each one, so were were on the first floor for a while.
The second floor bedroom has even
more paintings. The entire house is furnished based on the inventory of goods that
were sold after Rembrandt’s bankruptcy. He made a lot of money, especially for
an artist, all through his career. But he spent more.
His house, on Jodenbreestaat, cost a
lot of money. He failed to keep up with the mortgage and had to sell it and the
furnishings. The inventory included his collection of props, which ranged from
stuffed armadillos (at least, we saw a few strewn around the attic) to plaster
busts of Greek and Roman figures.
The bedroom is particularly
interesting because the position and orientation of the box bed are taken
directly from a Rembrandt etching, which shows his wife, Saskia, in bed talking
to her maid. There used to be a copy of that print in the room, hanging on the
side of the fireplace mantel, but it has been taken down.
There were two demonstrations while
we were there. One was a recap of the process of print-making, explaining how
the metal could be etched by acid or directly cut by different tools to make a
plate. Different methods get different effects, and Rembrandt was unusual, if
not unique, in using them all in a single plate.
The second demonstration was in the
attic, where a lady discussed mixing paints. Unless you had a pig bladder (she
passed around one of those) to store the paint, you used the paint the day you
mixed it. She said an artist might have several canvases going and might mix
colors for skin tones and so would do hands and faces that day.
I never thought of painting like that
before. But then, I don’t put a brush to the walls of my house. I paint by
telephone.
The lady asked for a volunteer to
help mix the red pigment into the oil. Today’s photo is a Harry original,
Joanna Mixes Paint at Rembrandt’s House.
We sat in the sunshine outside a cafe
facing Rembrandt’s house across the street, where I had a La Chouffe and we
watched the people go by. We listened to the bells of the Zuiderkerk toll the
quarter hours.
We met Larry at 7 in Barney’s Uptown and
had pizza and a variety of wines at de Pizza Bakkers on Haarlemerstraat.
Very tasty, very filling. Time for
bed.
April 25
Great dining with you and Joanna last
night, and thank Joanna for not being able to finish her pizza. It was delicious!
I was sharing stories at the Hemp of
your good behavior with Joanna, and how you've avoided space cakes since you
arrived. They were most impressed. Said Barry: "Now I'd like to meet him
again!"
Larry
April 26
I remember now that I met Barry after
my extended visit to Wynand Fockink. That was the afternoon when I fell asleep
in the lobby of the Hemp. When I took Joanna there the other day, she recorded
a reenactment, which is attached. (I was probably wearing the same suit.)
I need to rent a bike. Where should I
go to do that? I may be able to find the place we used last time, What was it,
Star Bikes? That's right behind the rail yards. I should be able to make it to
Barney's Uptown by 5 or 5:30.
Harry
April 26
Love the photo, Grasshopper!
And yes, despite years of alcohol
abuse, your memory is not completely shot.
Star Bikes it is: http://www.starbikesrental.com/
I trust you're having fun, but the
space cakes await!
Larry
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