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Many of Rembrandt’s early works are self portraits, a form which offers the most intimate perspective a viewer can get of an artist. By linking creativity to self-hood, an artist is able to incorporate clues to their own identity as well as leaving tangible evidence of their thought processes and their technical development. Unsurprisingly, it is these aspects of the ‘Young Rembrandt’ exhibition that portrait painter Robin Danely, identifies with. She presents two self-portraits in the ‘JONG/young’ exhibition, spanning the years between 1996 and the present. In exhibiting the self-portrait of her younger self alongside the recent ‘Dutch Self Portrait’ 2021, Danely is not only showing her increased skill as a painter, but offers an insight into her origins. She has included a bold visual reference to her personal history as in the picture she is wearing a collar crocheted by her grandmother, connecting her to her family, Dutch immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth century. It also references the decorative collars of Rembrandt’s time.

'Dutch Self Portrait' 2021 Robin Danely

Becky Paton, a mosaic artist, was also inspired by the ‘Young Rembrandt’ exhibition to examine the connection between her practice and self-portraiture and to determine the sources of inspiration for her vivid glass and ceramic works. She acknowledges the significance of her desire to capture particular moments, or memories in her works, psychologically marking the importance of an occasion, the works functioning as a cornerstone for that stage of her career. For the ‘JONG/young’ exhibition Becky has made a large self-portrait, ‘The 7th Warrior’ 2021 echoing the jewel like qualities of the paintings of the master. It is one of a trio of self-portraits exhibited that represent her creative journey, as well as encapsulating within them personal memories and signs of her interest in the natural world.

'The 7th Warrior, a self portrait' 2021 Becky Paton

The ‘Young Rembrandt’ exhibition revealed the importance of experimentation in shaping Rembrandt’s later practice, his earlier works showing his struggles with drawing and etching as well as his improvement and acquisition of skill in depicting the effect of light. Vicky Hirsch concluded that for her, the process of making is as important as the outcome, fuelling discovery and development. Taking time to pause and reflect helps artists to follow their intuition, essential for finding new sources of inspiration, and progressing artistic practice beyond mere reproduction. Vicky’s works for the ‘JONG/young’ exhibition are copper plate etchings, paying homage to the young Rembrandt’s dedication to the bettering of his own etching technique. Vicky documents the link between experimentation and artistic maturing, taking as a starting point a photograph of herself with the ceramic pots, also included in the exhibition, which she made as a younger artist. She has produced a series of etchings ‘My Younger Self I - V’ 2021 that act as a linear narrative of her own progress.

'My Younger Self V' 2021 Vicky Hirsch

Rembrandt’s early works show him exploring new and innovative subjects, bringing a reality and earthiness to his depictions of real women with sagging flesh rather than idealised forms. His honesty and determination to represent life in its rawest forms is also seen in works of peasants urinating and defecating, demonstrating that he chose not to shy away from the ordinariness of everyday life. Juliet Eccles powerful photographic and video works are similarly honest images of the experience of living with disability in all its ‘grubbiness’. She is interested in mortality and in how extended periods of illness have marked her. Her response to the works in the ‘Young Rembrandt’ exhibition echoes Rembrandt’s desire to show the fragility of life and human vulnerability. Her photographic works ‘Feed Me Now’, ‘Feeding Myself’, ’Nil By Mouth’ 2021, reference the act of feeding, stripping away the elegance of manners to show the primal struggle of achieving it for oneself and the discomfort of depending on others to help you. Her works, as Rembrandt’s do, communicate with us as living breathing human beings sustained by connection and our shared frailty.

'Feeding Myself' 2021 Juliet Eccles

It is evident from the responses that the four exhibiting artists in the ‘JONG/young’ exhibition have made, that looking back and learning from the work of those who went before is as vital as self-reflection for an artist’s development. Both processes lead to greater understanding of creative inspiration and the source of the subjects which endure for them. Evident are signs of experimentation, improved technical skill, and the best representation of the ideas that pervade the work. The willingness to learn and to meet the challenges within artistic practice echoes the fearlessness of the young Rembrandt. Such courage and thoughtfulness can be usefully applied to life more broadly. We can perhaps all take inspiration from the themes of the ‘Young Rembrandt’ exhibition to learn the ‘art’ of reflection.