Today Rembrandt is considered one of the greatest artists ever, known for his remarkable drawing from life and attention to detail. However, not all of his works were met with praise during his lifetime. Curator Olenka Horbatsch explores how his naturalistic depictions of women caused controversy in the 17th century.

17th-century Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn was a keen observer of the natural world. While contemporary artists idealised the world around them in their art, Rembrandt’s prints and drawings reveal a fascination with depicting unmediated reality. Rembrandt’s representation of women in particular demonstrates how he rejected the artistic conventions of the day.

This black chalk drawing of Diana is the artist’s earliest known study of a female nude. Traditionally Diana, the chaste mythological goddess of the hunt, was portrayed in art as an epitome of female beauty. Drawing from a live model, Rembrandt depicts Diana caught in a private moment, her sagging, wrinkled skin on view. In the etching made after the drawing, Rembrandt details the surface texture of Diana’s dimpled thighs. Rembrandt removes Diana from the mythological narrative, and depicts the earthy flesh of the model before him. Rembrandt thus blurs the boundaries between myth and reality – in the drawing, only the roughly sketched quiver of arrows hanging behind the figure identifies her as the goddess Diana.

Cast: Olenka Horbatsch (Curator)