Aristotle and Bust of Homer (1653)

Rembrandt (1606-1669)

Aristotle and Bust of Homer
1653
Oil on canvas, 143.5 x 136.5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York

Among The Met’s most celebrated works of art, this painting conveys Rembrandt’s meditation on the meaning of fame. The richly clad Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) rests his hand pensively on a bust of Homer, the epic poet who had attained literary immortality with his Iliad and Odyssey centuries before. Aristotle wears a gold medallion with a portrait of his powerful pupil, Alexander the Great; perhaps the philosopher is weighing his own worldly success against Homer’s timeless achievement. Although the work has come to be considered quintessentially Dutch, it was painted for a Sicilian patron at a moment when Rembrandt’s signature style, with its dark palette and almost sculptural buildup of paint, was beginning to fall out of fashion in Amsterdam. (MET)

See also:

• Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) | Homer (fl. 9th or 8th century BC)