Esther and Mordecai

religious

Aert de Gelder was one of Rembrandt's last pupils and continued to work in the spirit and style of his master long after other pupils, for instance, Maes, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout and Jan Lievens, had succumbed to the fashionable trend towards smooth and perfunctory painting. He painted large compositions with two or three figures, mostly based on the Old Testament subjects so favoured by Rembrandt. Like his master, he loved rich properties and colourful draperies - the eighteenth-century historiographer Van Houbraken records that his studio was a veritable gallery of antiques, full of ancient weapons, silks and all kinds of utensils - and he used manikins for the sake of greater authenticity, carefully dressing them to suit the requirements of his theme.

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About the Artist

Aert de Gelder

1645 – 1727

Dutch painter, active mainly in his native Dordrecht. After studying there with Hoogstraten, he became one of Rembrandt 's last pupils in Amsterdam. He was not only one of the most talented of Rembrandt's pupils, but also one of his most devoted followers, for he was the only Dutch artist to continue working in his style into the 18th century. His religious paintings, in particular, with their imaginative boldness and preference for oriental types, are very much in the master's spirit, although de Gelder often used colors - such as lilac and lemon yellow - that were untypical of Rembrandt, and his palette was in general lighter. One of his best-known works, Jacob's Dream (Dulwich College Picture Gallery, London), was long attributed to Rembrandt.

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