Malle Babbe 1930 - 1940

Han van Meegeren painted this version of Malle Babbe, in oils, some time before his death in 1947. The heavy use of dark tones and earthy browns has this picture feeling like something old that's been dug up. Up close, you see the paint’s pretty thin, almost like a stain in places, letting the texture of the canvas peek through, particularly in the shadowy area behind the figure. Then you look at the lace collar, and the paint is applied so thickly with these little impasto peaks where the brush lifted off the surface. It almost feels like you could reach out and touch the roughness of the lace. It's interesting how the artist uses these contrasts to play with light and shadow, drawing our eye to certain points, while leaving other details to dissolve into the darkness. The overall effect is a little like looking at a Rembrandt through the lens of some later, maybe more psychologically fraught, sensibility. It reminds me a little of Goya, and how he played with psychological realism. Ultimately, it's a great example of how artists riff on each other across time, reimagining old ideas in new ways.