Baroque: The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild, 1662


Aesthetic Appreciation with Analysis 

    A painting from the baroque era that I enjoy is The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild, painted by Rembrandt in 1662 while he was in Rozengracht, Amsterdam, portraying the Staalmeesters in a meeting. The elements that make it enjoyable are the use of colors, lines, and spacing.

The use of color sets the tone for the artwork. The warmer colors of the reds and browns set a calm and relaxed atmosphere. This creates a feeling that everything is progressing smoothly for the Staalmeesters in the meeting, along with them being relaxed and friendly with each other. The black and white meanwhile creates a more serious tone. this tone shows that even if they are relaxed, they are focused on ensuring the quality of the textiles they're checking. The black also emphasizes the Staalmeesters while highlighting their accounting book, which holds the verdicts on what textile cloths will pass or fail, creating a feeling of importance for the meeting.

    The use of the lines also plays a role. A major use of lines is the use of the horizontal lines creates a sense of unity (Syndics of the Draper's Guild by Rembrandt). The sense of unity from the lines, when combined with the uniformity of the Staalmeesters' clothes, creates a sense of purpose. The second Staalmeester from the left's curved back creates a line that makes him feel unstable and when combined with his head being the highest, creates a standing-up movement so he can face the viewer.

    The use of space helps immerse the viewer into the work. The tabletop being unseen, while the book still being visible, helps the Staalmeesters feel elevated, once again showing their importance while making it feel like their decisions will affect you.  There is also an offset of the table to the right in the painted space, which gives the feeling that you are entering the meeting room. When you combine this with the Staalmeesters staring towards the front, it feels like the interruption of an important meeting.

 Connection to the Influences 

    This artwork shows the rise of the merchant class. The painting is a portrait of a meeting of officials in the clothmakers guild, the Staalmeesters, who were appointed by the mayor of Amsterdam, showing them at work, testing the quality of the cloth and determining if they are up to standard (The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild (1662)). This appointment by the mayor shows the ruling class is putting more importance on merchants and their quality goods. Another point of their increased influence is that the Staalmeester were able to employ Rembrandt as their painter considering he was still an influential artist, even if he fell into financial straits (The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild (1662)). This shows that the merchant class's influence on the arts as sponsors is growing in protestant Europe along with the merchants gaining wealth due to the ability to afford such works of art as decorative pieces.



Citations:

Syndics of the Draper's Guild by Rembrandt, https://www.rembrandtpaintings.com/syndics-of-the-drapers-guild.jsp#prettyPhoto.

“The Sampling Officials of the Amsterdam Drapers' Guild, Known as 'the Syndics', Rembrandt Van Rijn, 1662.” Rijksmuseum, https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/SK-C-6.

“The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild (1662).” The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild, Rembrandt: Analysis, Interpretation, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/syndics-of-the-clothmakers-guild.htm.



Comments

  1. Carli WalchMarch 6, 2023 at 9:05 PM

    Thank you for sharing about The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild. I've learned a lot from this painting. Before reading your post I knew nothing. I would probably not have my own painting of this artwork because I don't think it really relates to me and my type of art. I do agree that this artwork mean a lot and has a lot of knowledge of what is going on in the artwork. I think the painting is very pretty and has unique colors and tone to the artwork. Great post overall. I learned a little about The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild.

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  2. Matt KoetheMarch 6, 2023 at 11:00 PM

    Hello, great work on your blog this week. At first glance I didn't love this work. It is quite simple and plain. Looking into the details it grew on me a bit. I like the way all the people in the painting are all looking at a similar vocal point like there is a picture being taken of them. That is very interesting to me as when this was painted the concept of taking a photo was not even a thought as cameras were no where near to being around. After reading about its connection to the rise of the merchant class more started to click. Paintings like this were relatively new and the people in this class never really had representation until this era. The painting looks as if they are dressed like pilgrims and it made me wonder if these were common clothes of people all over the world in this era. After some research I found this type of clothing was originally found in Europe and people who wore these clothes wore them to show they were poor and could not afford more colors. That made the connection with the rise of the merchant class much stronger.

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