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The painting ‘Us and Them’ (48” x 29”) has become a discussion piece for the people who come to my studio. In 2015 I started painting the face of Oopjen Coppit as a test case to see if I could be as good of a painter as Rembrandt was. Many serious artists copy famous works of art to improve their capability. I never finished it but used it as a marketing tool to get people interested in a lecture about Rembrandt. Not long after, I realized my marketing strategy was not working that well and to avoid bankruptcy I desperately needed a regular job. I became a facility manager at an artist retreat instead. This way the painting laid rolled up under my bed until hurricane Ian (September 30, 2022) forced me out of my house.
The painting had some water damage but I was able to restore it.
Today at my place at the Northlight studios in Asheville I finally had some time to look into the difficulty of copying a true Rembrandt. Forging is not my goal although there is a lot of money involved in falsifying valuable paintings. This is the reason I am not fully copying the painting but leaving the lower hand unfinished.
The original painting is part of a pair; Portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, 1634, oil on linen, 209.5 cm × 135.5 cm (82.5 in × 53.3 in) estimated $180 million in 2015.
Each painting is worth roughly 90 million dollars and I can see why. The details are so painstakingly executed that it raised my admiration by the minute while painting. Especially the lace in various layers with a shadow and a different tone in each layer makes me wonder, “How did he do that?” Mind you, there were no photographic references in those days and Oopjen had to sit or stand there for long stretches of hours.
To read more about these paintings follow the links,
https://youtu.be/JugE9Ybsn-8?si=57xi2H8QTRdnBy0W
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/stories/10-things/story/10-things-about-marten-oopjen
Here is a tour of my studio, https://vimeo.com/931512569?share=copy
Northlight studio’s, 357 Depot street, Asheville
