The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 27

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likely would have known the symbolism
and dogma by heart, like a tool
used so often the craftsman no longer
needs to think how to manipulate it—
he simply used it. Rembrandt employed
these topics again and again. Moreover,
the only known phrase with which he
described his own artwork was “the
deepest and most lifelike emotion.” 16
Certainly, the artist was a thinker in
the sense that he studied more than just
Calvinist subjects. Profoundly driven,
he perfected the dramatic and real-life
emotional values of the themes underlying
the biblical stories—compassion,
tolerance, forgiveness, and many more
along this line.
Further, unlike his creditors and
despite his sometimes questionable
actions, no mention of hounding Calvinist
“moral police” appears in any records.
Possibly, his religious paintings
were considered proper enough to keep
moralists at bay, but more likely, the
Calvinist Church had little power over
him because he disregarded its authority
in the way he did other conventions
of society. He appears to have never received
help from the Reformers either.
Indeed, Halewood is not even
sure whether Rembrandt intentionally
set out to “invent” a Reformationist
style. He attempts to “locate Rembrandt
in relation to the dominant religious
attitudes of his time and place, emphasizing
what was typical rather than individual
in his faith.” Halewood states he
is simply suggesting this thesis rather
than making an exhaustive study. 17 Further,
as an English professor, not art historian,
Halewood focused on the Refor-