While in Detroit, I stepped into Rembrandt’s Face of Jesus exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts. It’s fun to go to this museum even if there’s no special exhibit because the main hall is covered in a huge 27 panel fresco by Diego Rivera. The fresco, painted in the 1930’s, honors Detroit’s manufacturing culture and its laborers. It combines classic with modern and makes the viewer think about how industry can be purposed for good or for evil. It’s stunning.

The special Rembrandt exhibit was equally well done, but in a quieter way. I’ve never been an art student so I learned a lot. Rembrandt is known as the first artist who depicted Jesus as a Jew and not a Greek or Roman. His art also depicts Jesus as more contempletive rather than majestic. I had only heard about Rembrandt’s oil paintings, but he also did small sketches and prints.

What I took away from the exhibit as a writer was that Rembrandt painted what he knew. His depictions of Jesus as a Jew probably came from the fact that he lived in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam rather than from religious conviction. Rembrandt used the Jewish people of his community for models.

Rembrandt also sketched and painted for his audience. When Amsterdam went from being primarily Catholic to being Protestant, the fancy icons were removed from the churchs. People wanted pictures in their homes that made the Bible stories more tangible, and Rembrandt filled that need.

Aspiring writers are told, “Write what you know,” and writers who make a living a writing certainly know how to give their readers what they want. Artists and writers – two sides to the same coin.