Rembrandt van Rijn

A seventeenth-century Dutch artist whose work was the pinnacle of the Baroque period. His abiding principle was to make his art true to nature and reality, and as his life changed from great wealth and happiness to tradegy and loss, his perspective became one of greater spiritual profundity. He considered the body to be an envelope for the spirit, which was touched by shadow. His work developed a quality of otherworldliness, revealing the inherent indestructibility of the human spirit.

In BT, David Talbot and Lestat share a deep affinity for Rembrandt's paintings. In fact, when Lestat first tracks David to Amsterdam, he discovers that David is there to locate a painting by Rembrandt stored in the Motherhouse. The painting is of the Mayfair witch Deborah, whose progeny cavorted with the spirit Lasher, the result of which is detailed in WH. The portrait reveals a fragile light in the midst of darkness, as if Rembrandt had foreseen for Deborah the possibility of salvation. David sends a photograph of the painting to Aaron Lightner in New Orleans.


	A seventeenth-century Dutch artist whose work was the pinnacle of the Baroque period. His abiding principle was to make his art true to nature and reality, and as his life changed from great wealth and happiness to tradegy and loss, his perspective became one of greater spiritual profundity. He considered the body to be an envelope for the spirit, which was touched by shadow. His work developed a quality of otherworldliness, revealing the inherent indestructibility of the human spirit. In BT, David Talbot and Lestat share a deep affinity for Rembrandt's paintings. In fact, when Lestat first tracks David to Amsterdam, he discovers that David is there to locate a painting by Rembrandt stored in the Motherhouse. The painting is of the Mayfair witch Deborah, whose progeny cavorted with the spirit Lasher, the result of which is detailed in WH. The portrait reveals a fragile light in the midst of darkness, as if Rembrandt had foreseen for Deborah the possibility of salvation. David sends a photograph of the painting to Aaron Lightner in New Orleans.	A self portrait.

	Shortly after both David and Lesat have purchased and read a copy of Goethe's Faust, they meet in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in front of Rembrandt's Members of the Drapers' Guild (The Syndics). The faces of the men it portrays are full of wisdom, gentleness and patience, as if they possess the secret of great compassion and love. Lestat thinks they look like angels, and David inquires of him if any vampires have such faces that also reveal a knowledge of the true spiritual meaning of immortality. Lestat protests that this quality is only a projection from Rembrant - for Rembrant himself is immortal. Yet David's words still have a depressing effect on him: Lestat, along with all other vampires, is evil and, as such, cannot have the spiritual knowledge available to those mortals who truly strive for goodness. Although Lestat wants to believe that goodness and redemption are available to him, a darker side of him knows this is not an option. Upset and saddened, Lestat leaves, then writes a letter to David explaining his own theory about Rembrandt's art. According to Lestat, Rembrandt sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for becoming a great painter. Since Rembrandt had seen the proof of evil, he bacame obsessed with the nature of goodness. He thus searched the faces of his subjects for the spark of inner divinity and used it to enhance his paintings, portraying spiritual "visions of what that person was at his or her finest hour." His own self-portraits, which reveal a man of progressive wisdom, were actually pleas to God to take note of his transformation. The Devil did not like the type of work Rembrandt was doing, so he brought disaster and tragedy into Rembrandt's life. Yet this only deepened Rembrandt's vision of love. On his deathbed, as the Devil was waiting for his soul, Rembrandt, like Faust, was redeemed by God. It breaks Lestat's heart to look at Rembrandt's art and know that he, as evil incarnate, cannot be redeemed. This being the case, no vampires could ever have such faces. Although they are likened to saints and angels for other qualities they possess, they are killers and thus cannot know the purity of mortal love and compassion that God inspires in mankind. Lestat resolves at this point to stop tempting David with the vampire's version of immortality, for as a mortal with a soul attuned to the spiritual, David could achieve something greater, just as Rembrandt did. Lestat's theory about Rembrandt is actually Rice's own theory. She had hoped to write a novel about it but instead gave the story to Lestat, who claims that if he were mortal, he would write a novel about Rembrandt. The Vampire Companion ~ Katherine Ramsland
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