ACT Reading Dec. 2016 74H - Passage III

Telescopes trained on the night sky, astronomers

observe the phenomenon of the binary star, which

appears to the naked eye to be a single star but consists

in fact of two, orbiting a common center of gravity.
₅ Sometimes, one star in the pair can so outshine the

other that its companion may be detected only by the

way its movement periodically alters the brightness of

the greater one.

The binary stars we recognize in the firmament of
₁₀ art tend to be of equal brilliance: Raphael and

Michelangelo, van Gogh and Gauguin, Picasso and

Matisse. But the special case of an "invisible'' compan­-

ion is not unknown. Consider Jan Lievens, born in

Leiden in western Holland on October 24, 1607, just
₁₅ 15 months after the birth of Rembrandt van Rijn,

another Leiden native.

While the two were alive, admirers spoke of them

in the same breath, and the comparisons were not

always in Rembrandt's favor. After their deaths,
₂₀ Lievens dropped out of sight-for centuries. Though

the artists took quite different paths, their biographies

show many parallels. Both served apprenticeships in

Amsterdam with the same master, returned to that city

later in life and died there in their 60s. They knew each
₂₅ other, may have shared a studio in Leiden early on, def­-

initely shared models and indeed modeled for each

other. They painted on panels cut from the same oak

tree, which suggests they made joint purchases of art

supplies from the same vendor. They later showed the
₃₀ same unusual predilection for drawing on paper

imported from the Far East.

The work the two produced in their early 20s in

Leiden was not always easy to tell apart, and as time

went on, many a superior Lievens was misattributed to
₃₅ Rembrandt. Quality aside, there are many reasons why

one artist's star shines while another's fades. It mat­-

tered that Rembrandt spent virtually his entire career in

one place, cultivating a single, highly personal style,

whereas Lievens moved around, absorbing many differ-
₄₀ ent influences. Equally important, Rembrandt lent him­-

self to the role of the lonely genius, a figure dear to the

Romantics, whose preferences would shape the tastes

of generations to come.

While Lievens' name will be new to many, his
₄₅ work may not be. The sumptuous biblical spectacular

The Feast of Esther, for instance, was last sold, in 1952,

as an early Rembrandt, and was long identified as such

in 20th-century textbooks. It is one of more than

130 works featured in the current tour of the interna-
₅₀ tional retrospective "Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master

Rediscovered."

The artworks, in so many genres, are hardly the

works of an also-ran. "We've always seen Lieven

through the bright light of Rembrandt, as a pale reflec-
₅₅ tion." says Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern

Baroque paintings at the National Gallery. "This show

lets you embrace Lievens from beginning to end, to

understand that this man has his own trajectory and that

he wasn't· always in the gravity pull of Rembrandt."
₆₀ Wheelock has been particularly struck by the muscular­

ity and boldness of Lievens, which is in marked con­-

trast to most Dutch painting of the time. "The approach

is much rougher, much more aggressive," he says.

"Lievens was not a shy guy with paint. He manipulate
₆₅ it, he scratches it. He gives it a really physical

presence."

Lievens painted The Feast of Esther around 1625.

about the time Rembrandt returned to Leiden. It is

approximately four and a half by five and a half feet,
₇₀ with figures shown three-quarter length, close to the

picture plane. (At that time, Rembrandt favored smaller

formats.) At tbe luminous center of the composition. a

pale Queen Esther points an accusing finger at Haman,

the royal councilor. Her husband, the Persian King
₇₅ Ahasuerus, shares her light, his craggy face set off by a

snowy turban and a mantle of gold brocade. Seen from

behind, in shadowy profile, Haman is silhouetted

against shimmering white drapery, his right hand flying

up in dismay.

80 Silks, satins and brocades, elegant plumes and

gemstones-details like these give Lievens ample scope

to show off his flashy handling of his medium. Not for

him the fastidious, enamel-smooth surfaces of the

Leiden Fijnschilders-"fine painters." in whose meticu-
₈₅ lously rendered oils every brush stroke disappeared.

Lievens reveled in the thickness of the paint and the

way it could be shaped and scratched and swirled with

a brush, even with the sharp end of a handle. This tac­-

tile quality is one of Rembrandt's hallmarks as well;
₉₀ there are now those who think he picked it up from

Lievens.