The Rembrandt Affair

I just finished a phenomenal book by Daniel Silva.  The latest in a long series about Gabriel Allon, an Israeli assassin and art restorer, The Rembrandt Affair is centered around the dirty history of one fictional painting.  Though this story is fictional, there are many true ones like it.  Because art is so old, it carries almost all the secrets of society.

In the mass round up of Jewish people during WWII, agents of the SS were relentless in their search for art pieces--Hitler even had a special department tasked with collection of rare art.  This book tells the story of an executive SS officer who bargains the lives of Jews for their art.  Though Jews were ordered to turn in all valuable things like jewelry and art, many kept them for potential leverage and sentimental value.  The SS officer, Kurt Voss, took a Rembrandt, Portrait of a Young Woman, from a family of prominent Dutch Jews in exchange for their youngest daughter's life. Events like these, along with the frequency of art theft, makes provenance the most important thing about a painting.

The book also addresses the extremes of art restoration.  When the painting is stolen from the original restorer, it ends up covered in blood and has a bullet hole.  There are also two deep creases that originated from the documents that were hidden between it and an additional canvas that was added to seal the documents in.  Using a solution that has acetone as the reactionary agent, art restorers use cotton swabs to meticulously move varnish from the canvas.  To replace the hole, a new patch of canvas is added and filled in the same style of rest of the canvas.  Art restoration is a tedious task that takes immense skill and the ability to mirror the work of the original master.

The painting in the book, Portrait of a Young Woman, does not exist but the closest actual painting would be Rembrandt's Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels.  Hendrickje Stoffels was Rembrandt's famed mistress.  He got her pregnant, however, he was unable to gain approval from the Catholic church to marry her because of the child they had out of wedlock.  The sensual mood of this picture is displayed in the clothes and body position.  She is wearing a large fur shawl-like piece with what looks like a thin silk underdress.  The cut is extremely low and show almost her entire chest.  She seems to be lying or sitting on a bed.  The bed being a deep red could symbolize the passion in their relationship.  Her face is a peaceful gaze that seems to be unaffected by having to pose for her lover to paint her. The large earrings and the swooping gold necklaces display the opulent gifts that Rembrandt blessed her with.  Rembrandt was considered the leader of the Old Dutch Masters and he lived a lavish life in his house in Amsterdam.