Rembrandt painting

[MyCrows]

I was checking out this painting the other day by Rembrandt after it being mentioned in a commentary I was reading. The painting is titled "Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem".


In it we see the prophet leaning on a book, and the book appears to have a number written along the pages edges. Does this have some significance to the artist? I tried looking various places online, but can't find any reference to it...

 

[Contra_Mundum]

If I were to guess, I'm inclined to think the symbols are letters as opposed to numbers, and that they spell "BiBilia" (spelling uncertain, perhaps it's Latin or Dutch spelling before standardization)

 

[Phil D.]

It is "BiBeL", which is German for Bible (maybe it was created on a commission from a German-speaking patron..?). Click on the picture here and it gives a magnifier that brings that out.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

It is "BiBeL", which is German for Bible (maybe it was created on a commission from a German-speaking patron..?). Click on the picture here and it gives a magnifier that brings that out.

I had blown the above picture up, but the effort lacked the crispness available from this alternate linked offering. Try as I might, I could not conjure a translation of any suggestion of the letters that I could make out. The fourth ("e") cannot be seen using the jpg above; and looks like another second ("i"). I wondered if it should be "j" as the Dutch spelling "Bijbel" has another dotted letter in it; and again, spelling conventions were not so firm in the 17th century.

The observation on conventional writing seems relevant also, when noting that the vowels are written lowercase, and the consonants written in capital letters. But another possibility occurs to me: that this lettering might be a nod to the Hebrew text, where the consonants are letters of alphabet, and the vowels are interspersed as "pointing."

 

[Phil D.]

According to this website, the lettering is apparently thought by some to be a later, non-Rembrandt addition.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

According to this website, the lettering is apparently thought by some to be a later, non-Rembrandt addition.

I must agree; the detail seems uncharacteristic.

 

[Phil D.]

People trying to "improve" a masterpiece... ...tsk, tsk, tsk..

Kinda like I've always said with regard to setting traditional hymns to more modern tunes and adding silly bridges and interludes and such: It's like trying to improve the Mona Lisa by giving her golden curls...