Resumen de Rembrandt mis à mort par la peinture même
Rembrandt Put to Death by the Painting Itself.
The self portriat of Rembrandt in the collection of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne is generally considered to be a representation of the artist either as Democritus or as Zeuxis. These two identifications have been proposed one after the other in the 20th century, and while Democritus was favored by art critics before 1973, it is the name of Zeuxis that has most often been imposed, after the publication of an outstanding article by Albert Blanquet, at this date. One or the other of these identifications, therefore, but never both: art history having some difficulty with ambivalence or ambiguity. This study intends to reconsider this "problem" of identification by proposing to recognize in this portrait a complex and plural image: that of Rembrandt-Democritus-Zeuxis. Having put forward this identification, it will be possible to observe the work of "figuration-disfiguration" put in place by the artist; work that would seem to postulate the ultimate power of painting: that of giving death, after having had the power of giving life.
