Philosopher in Meditation, recently renamed Philosopher in Contemplation by the museum, is the traditional title of an oil painting in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, that is attributed to the 17th-century Dutch artist Rembrandt.
It is signed "RHL-van Rijn" and dated 1632, at the time of Rembrandt's move from Leiden to Amsterdam.Jacques Foucart, Les Peintures de Rembrandt au Louvre, Éditions de la R.M.N., Paris, 1982, 19-23, 89. Recent scholarship suggests that the painting depicts "Tobit and Anna waiting for their son Tobias" instead. This interpretation is given in an auction catalogue from 1738 (see "Subject matter"), the earliest known source that clearly refers to this painting.
The painting was brought in the middle of the 18th century from The Hague to Paris, where it was associated with another painting ascribed to Rembrandt similar in size, style and motifs; i.e. a small figure in an interior with a spiral staircase (see "Companion piece"). Sold as pendants and identified as "Philosophers", the paintings enjoyed great popularity, making the rounds of major aristocratic collections before being acquired for the royal collections housed in the Louvre Palace.See the Provenance in Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. II, 644. See also, Anne Leclair, "Les deux Philosophes de Rembrandt: une passion de collectionneurs," La Revue des Musées de France-Revue du Louvre, 5, 2006, 38-43. The presumed subject matter of philosophical meditation, the finely graded chiaroscuro treatment and the intricate composition were widely appreciated in France. The painting is mentioned in the writings of many 19th- and 20th-century literary figures, including George Sand, Théophile Gautier, Jules Michelet, Marcel Proust, Paul Valéry, Gaston Bachelard, Paul Claudel, and Aldous Huxley.
The ongoing popularity of the painting may be measured by its presence on the internet, where it is often used as an emblem of philosophy, or interpreted along esoteric or occult lines.
Description Painted in oils on an oak panel measuring about 11 x 13 in. (28 x 34 cm), the painting depicts in slightly accelerated perspective two figures in a partially vaulted interior that is dominated by a wooden spiral staircase. The architecture includes stone, brick and wood, with arched elements (window, vault, doors) that create an impression of monumentality. On the pre-iconographic level, this is one of the most "graphic" works painted by Rembrandt, in the sense that it contains many straight, curved, circular, and radiating lines: from the lines of the flagstones to those of the window, the bricks, the wainscotting, and of course the staircase. As in the staircase and the basketwork tray at the center of the composition, the curved lines can be said to organize the straight lines.Jean-Marie Clarke, "Le Philosophe en méditation, de Rembrandt," Cahiers de Psychologie de l'art et de la culture, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, 6, 1980, 132. The most conspicuous figure is that of an old man seated at a table in front of a window, his head bowed and his hands folded in his lap. The second figure is that of an old woman tending a fire in an open hearth. A third figure—a woman standing in the stairs carrying a basket and turned to the spectator—is visible in 18th- and 19th-century engraved reproductions of the painting, but virtually invisible in the painting's present state.For example, this figure is visible in the engraving of the painting by Devilliers l'aîné in Joseph Lavallée, Galerie du musée de France, vol. 8, Filhol, Paris, 1814, pl. III. The third figure does not appear in the turn-of-the-century engraving by Timothy Cole in John Charles Van Dyke, Timothy Cole, Old Dutch and Flemish Masters Engraved by Timothy Cole With Critical Notes by John C. Van Dyke and Comments by the Engraver, The Century Co., New York, 1901, 32. As it is, the overall lighting is warm and quite subdued owing to the yellowing of the varnish.Ernst van de Wetering et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. V, The Small History Paintings, Springer, Dordrecht, 2011, 197. As Van de Wetering notes, "the paint layers were covered with an extremely thick, yellowed layer of varnish, as a result of which it is very difficult to get any clear insight into its pictorial characteristics."
Signature
The panel is signed "RHL-van Rijn 163_" at the bottom and left of the center, at a vertical from the figure of the old man. The signature was traced with a fine brush in light pigment on a dark background and is quite difficult to make out. The last digit is a tiny blob of paint, the form and placing of which would tally with a "0", "1" or "2."Jean-Marie Clarke, "Le Philosophe en méditation du Louvre: un tableau signé 'RHL-van Rijn' et daté '1632,'" Revue du Louvre, 3, 1990, 193-94. For the author's English translation, see:https://rkd.nl/en/explore/technical/5007260 The type of signature—monogram plus patronymic—would argue for 1632, since the artist is known to have used this type of signature only in that year.Horst Gerson, Rembrandt Paintings, Artabras Books, Harrison House, N.Y., 1968: "The date has always been regarded as 1633, but the last digit may just as well be read as a one or a two, which accords better with the style of this tender painting," 492. This does not mean that the picture was painted in that year or even in Amsterdam, to which Rembrandt had moved in late 1631. In any case, this type of signature is so rare in Rembrandt's oeuvre and date-specific that it argues for authenticity.Corpus, II, 641: the members of the RRP who examined this painting in 1968 were unable to see the signature. However, subsequent examinations by Foucart (1982) and Clarke (1990) confirmed its presence.
Provenance Close consideration of the known provenance explains how a Dutch scene of biblical domesticity could be turned into a French image of philosophical meditation. In this process, the role of the supposed companion piece (see below), with which it was paired for two centuries and which was also attributed to Rembrandt, proved determinant. Summary mentions of a "Winding stair with a seated old man" in 17th-century inventories could apply to either painting.See Corpus, II, 644, for early provenance. The earliest unambiguous reference to the painting is in the catalogue for the sale of the collection of the comte de Fraula in Brussels in 1738. The catalogue gives the measurements of the panel and the description: Een Ordonnantie met Tobias, ende eenen drayenden Trap, door Rimbrant (A Composition with Tobit, and a Winding Stair, by Rembrandt).Gérard Hoet,Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schildereyen met derzelver pryzen..., vol. I, The Hague 1752, lot 135, p. 530 (Lugt 488). The French version of the catalogue gives it lot no. 136 and provides the correction measurements: haut 11 pou(ces) & demi, large 1 p(ied) & 2 pou(ces) & demi.
The painting was bought by Jacques de Roore, an agent bidding on behalf of Willem Lormier, art collector and dealer in The Hague, whose wax seal is still on the back of the panel.See Clarke, 1990, figs. 11 and 12, p. 199. On 27 June 1748, Lormier sold the painting for Dfl. 525 to the French collector Marc-René Voyer, marquis d'Argenson.See the page of Lormier's handwritten list reproduced in Everhard Korthals Altes, 2001, p. 289, which does not clearly indicate the year (1746? 1748?). Korthals Altes cites the date of sale as 21 June 1748, p. 271, Anne Leclair as 26 May 1748, p. 38. We follow the reading of the Rembrandt Database. In his manuscript list of the 17 paintings that he sold to Voyer on that occasion, Lormier referred to it as Oud Mannetje en wenteltrap (Old Man with a winding stair). His disregard of the Tobit subject cited in the Fraula catalogue may be due to the fact that he did not attend the auction personally and that he did not own the catalogue.Korthals Altes, 2001, 259, note 32, which lists the sale catalogues known to have belonged to Lormier. Voyer appears to be the originator of the old man's philosophical vocation, most likely inspired by the companion piece, which he also owned and which clearly shows a scholar in his study. Today, this former "pendant", titled Philosopher with an open book, is attributed to Salomon Koninck."[L]e marquis d'Argenson fut le premier auteur du regroupement de ces deux panneaux qu'il exposait 'en regard'. Leclair,. 2006, 38.
As late as 1982, the two paintings were believed to have shared the same provenance as far back as 1734, but this was disproved by the Rembrandt Research Project.Foucart, 1983, 89 and 98, and Corpus, II, 1986, p. 643. Lormier and the marquis d'Argenson are not mentioned in the Provenance section in volume II (1986, C51) or volume VI (2015, A86) of the Corpus. See an up-to-date provenance in Korthals Altes, 2001, pp. 297-298, who also quotes a long note written by Voyer. Korthals Altes claims that Voyer already owned the Koninck when he acquired the Rembrandt, but cites no evidence.Korthals Altes, 2001, 274. In fact, nothing is known of the earlier provenance of the Koninck, or which of the two paintings he acquired first. Assuming that it was the Rembrandt, Anne Leclair notes that: "At an unknown date, Voyer acquired a second 'Philosopher" that he deemed close enough in style and format to make it a pendant".Leclair, 2006, 38. In notes on his "pendants" set down around 1750, Voyer pointed out that "chance brought them together".Leclair, 2006, 42, transcribes the note: This passage remains as a sentence fragment: "Le hasard qui les a rassemblés l'un est plus fin l'autre a plus de piquant . . ." The French verb "rassembler" can mean either "brought together" or "brought back together".
Although he waxed enthusiastic about these prized possessions, calling them "unique", by 1752, he had already sold them to his friend, Claude-Alexandre de Villeneuve, comte de Vence. The latter had the two reproduced for the catalogue of his collection by Louis Surugue with the titles Philosophe en méditation (Koninck) and Philosophe en contemplation (Rembrandt). Significantly, the engraver reproduced the Koninck picture first and showed it at the Salon of 1753,Ruth Bernard Yeazell, Picture Titles. How and Why Western Paintings Acquired their Titles, Princeton, 2015, 84. while he reproduced the Rembrandt in the following year and showed it at the Salon of 1755.Michael Fried, Absorption and Theatricality. Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot, UCLA Press, 1980, 194, note 85. This was the beginning of a long series of graphic reproductions, both in France and Great Britain, that spread the fame of the two "Philosophers", while catering to the vogue for pendants.W. McAllister Johnson, The Rise and Fall of the Fine-Art Print in Eighteenth-Century France, U. of Toronto Press, see the chapter "Pendants," 54-65.
The comte de Vence died in 1760, stipulating in his testament that Voyer could choose two paintings from his collection. Voyer did not select the two "pendants", but only the Philosophe en contemplation (Rembrandt), thus separating the very pair that he had created and further attesting to the arbirariness of their association.Leclair, 2006, 41 and note 35. At the sale of the comte de Vence's collection in 1761, the Philosophe en méditation (Koninck) was purchased for 2,999 livres by a relative of the deceased, the marquis de Vence, who turned around and sold it to the duc de Choiseul, then Secretary of State for the Navy and War.Leclair, 2006, 41. Wanting to curry favor with the influential duc de Choiseul, Voyer offered to part with his treasured Rembrandt so that the latter could enjoy possession of both "Philosophers". And so, for another 3,000 livres the two paintings were reunited in 1762, not to be separated again until 1955.