Vanitas

Vanitas Commentary by David B. Gowler Cite Share Show Bible Passage Read by Ben Quash The dark room is illuminated by a single candle. An elderly man sits at a desk, a pince-nez perched on his nose, thoughtfully examining a coin. All peripheral elements are cloaked in shadows. The man’s hand blocks viewers from seeing the candle directly, but its glowing light brilliantly illuminates virtually every detail of his aged, wrinkled face. Other coins on the desk reflect the glow of the candle’s light, as do the metal clasps on the man’s shoulder and the ruff around his neck, which in turn projects even more light onto his face. Who is this man, and what might this painting say to its viewers? The work resists immediate categorization and leaves many questions unanswered—even its subject is disputed. Some scholars argue that it depicts the parable of the Rich Fool (e.g. Tümpel 1971), but the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (correctly) titles it The Money Changer (Der Geldwechsler). This and similar works depicting an elderly person absorbed by material aspects of this world (e.g. Gerrard Honthorst, An Old Woman Inspecting a Coin, c.1623/4; see also Quinten Massys, The Moneylender and his Wife, 1514) personify avarice and vanitas, reminding viewers of their own mortality and the ultimate worthlessness of worldly possessions. Rembrandt van Rijn’s manipulation of light and shadow, along with the man’s seemingly introspective detachment, create a sense of mystery. Yet the painting’s enigmatic qualities are engaging—just like Jesus’s ‘works of art’, the parables. The rays of light in Rembrandt’s work are reflected in various ways and sundry places, just as parables are reflected in different ways in different contexts and are understood in many ways by various interpreters. Rembrandt illuminates some objects clearly, while other aspects remain murky or obscure; placed in shadows; creating uncertainties and provoking debates. For example, the man’s brilliantly lit face highlights his wrinkles, reddened nose, right ear, and eyelids, as well as the soft shadows produced by his glasses. By contrast, it is unclear, in the darkened room, whether the object behind the man on the upper left is a clock symbolizing the man’s approaching death or merely a stovepipe. Similarly, Jesus’s parables illuminate some things clearly with other aspects remaining tantalizingly ambiguous. Is the rich fool, for example, an incompetent farmer who should have foreseen the extraordinary crop earlier? Or is he a shrewd agribusinessman who intends to hold back his harvest to receive a higher price for it later? References Gowler, David B. 2020 [2017]. The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia (Waco: Baylor Academic Press) Tümpel, Christian. 1971. ‘Ikonografische Beiträge zu Rembrandt. Zur Deutung und Interpretation einzelner Werke’, Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen 16: 20–38