Voorstudie in gips voor Rembrandt-penning 1906

This is Johan Melchior Faddegon’s plaster study for a Rembrandt medal. You can see the artist has built up the surface, adding wet plaster and carving it away to model the face of Rembrandt. I love that it's a study. It means the artist has been thinking about Rembrandt and also, like, working it out. There’s something so intimate and physical about working with plaster. It reminds me of working with clay, pushing and pulling, and watching the image emerge. What was Faddegon thinking as he was making this? Was he trying to capture Rembrandt’s likeness, or was he trying to capture something more elusive, like his spirit? I’m struck by the coolness of the white plaster. Rembrandt was known for his masterful use of light and shadow, and here, Faddegon has reduced it to just light. It reminds us that artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and media. It’s an ongoing exchange of ideas, each one inspiring the next.