In our third video featuring Leiden circa 1630: Rembrandt Emerges, we look at the use of tronies in the exhibition. Tronies depict people, sometimes stock characters in costume, emphasizing facial expressions and features.
Tronies are different from portraits. A portrait is a representation of a specific individual. A tronie may accurately represent the sitter’s appearance, but its purpose is to represent a character type (often costumed and/or exaggerated).
Images featured:
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Artist’s Mother Seated at a Table, Looking Right: Three-Quarter-Length, c. 1631, etching on paper, state 2 of 3. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Gift Esther and Sam Sarick, 2006 (2006/270).
Jan Lievens, Profile Head of an Old Woman (“Rembrandt’s Mother”), c. 1630, oil on panel. Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston. Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader, 2005 (48-001).
Leiden circa 1630: Rembrandt Emerges was curated by Dr. Jacquelyn N. Coutré, organized and circulated by the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University, with the support of the Isabel and Alfred Bader Fund of Bader Philanthropies, Inc. and the Government of Canada.
