By Sylvie Matton Rembrandt's Whore: A Novel [Paperback]

by Sylvie Matton

Excellent Book

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Art, Historical, Unfinished, German Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tedious.

This blurred, continuous monologue style of narration was not one I found enjoyable, nor did I find it in any way convincing as the internal dialog of a very young, illiterate, Dutch woman from the 1916’s. It does however, sound remarkably convincing as a middle aged, twenty-first century French woman with a solid literary education (maybe a bit of literary pretension?) from good universities and a background in the performing arts. Well, what do you know, that would be the author.

The high blown phrases leave one constantly expecting be find a sentence beginning with “My dear reader…” Except that Hendrickje, the alleged narrator was illiterate and has repeatedly informed us so. This naïve, uneducated woman from a rural garrison town had enough nonce to leave home, get a job in Rembrandt’s house and manage it for years, yet our narrator is constantly mithering in a stream of consciousness, mostly religious, incredibly tedious way. No practical teenager thinks about God and the Devil (often both at once, sometimes the narrator can’t seem to tell them apart) every second paragraph of their internal thoughts! We get just enough information of historical factors (veal stew in melon juice? Really? Intriguing) to keep the reader hanging on and the historical aspects were apparently researched with some assiduousness, so that is enjoyable at least. But that the woman running this cash strapped busy household spent no time on practical thoughts at all is completely unlikely. I suppose the religious overtones were necessary to explain the obsession our narrator has with the phrase "Rembrandt's whore" which she repeats a lot. While I have read enough about the period to know religion was an important part of Dutch life in the era, it was a practical sort of religion for the most part. Historically, a number of art historians have suggested that Hendrickje was probably not overly concerned by her legal position, Rembrandt himself was certainly less than active in christian practice though his biblical scenes are many and inspiring.

The monologue is so fractured and fragmented that it is often impossible to tell if we are reading about something real or some complicated internal musing. References to Rembrandt also, are difficult to pinpoint in the dialogue a lot of the time, being interchangeably “he”, “you”, Rembrandt or anything else, sometimes being referred to in different ways within a single paragraph. At other times he is described using elaborate metaphors, those involving roaring lions are particularly favoured as are those comparing his trials and tribulations to the experiences of Christ. Which I would be ok with ( Hendrickje's extensive knowledge of biblical scenes and stories of antiquities is unparalleled by the way) if only it was possible to tell us it was a metaphor instead of leaving the poor reader wondering just what the hell they were meant to be reading about.

The paintings also, when they were referred to, were so buried in the florid, over worked, literary style that I was left uncertain if a painting was being described, or if Rembrandt was being addressed or if Hendrickje was just navigating us through another high highfalutin internal pratfall. Eventually, I realised there was a list of painting referred to in the appendixes, luckily chronologically, that was the only way to tell sometimes when one was being described.

And don't let me forget to mention the worms: There were a lot of them, the first quarter of the book it was practically impossible to get through three paragraphs without little white worms. Small white worms, with or without teeth, chewing through corpses, in people guts, chewing through wood, under the floor, worms, worms, worms.... Later we got the occasionally brown worm too and on one stand out occasion blue worms. I get it; a metaphor for death and decay. Yes, I get it! I GET IT ALREADY!!!! I don’t need them every paragraph every page. Surely no 1600’s twenty year old Dutch girl spends every waking moment thinking about worms, gods or devil all the time?

[Daniëlle Dijkstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books about old masters, paintings, art, and life in medieval Holland. So this was just the right book for me! I really liked to see the story of Rembrandt from a different point of view.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read if you are visiting Rembrandt’s House and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Sylvia Matton has done for Rembrandt what Tracy Chevalier has done for Vermeer. Except all the characters and events in Rembrandt’s Whore are historically accurate.
The book is written in the voice of Rembrandt’s long term partner, Hendrickje Stoffels, hence the ‘whore’ in the title, as this is what she was considered in Amsterdam society at that time. The style is idiosyncratic - like a diary told to Rembrandt who is mainly referred to as ‘you’ (though not always, which can be a little confusing). Rembrandt’s individual paintings are beautifully woven into the narrative, which is touching and at times heartbreaking. How could such a genius as Rembrandt, whose paintings sell for millions today, become a neglected bankrupt? Seeing the world through Hendrickje’s eyes is fascinating - her devotion to God, despite being outcast by the established church, her obsession with worms - in wood and within people, and above all her description of the Plague, in all its horrible reality.

[Kristien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, interesting peek into the world of Rembrandt and his household. I did not particularly like Matton's telegram-like style but I read the novel in English and perhaps it did not do justice to the original text.

[Petra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Een roman verteld vanuit het perspectief van de huishoudster en later minnares van Rembrandt van Rijn had heel interessant kunnen zijn. Echter, Sylvie Matton koos voor een verhaal in telegram/dagboekstijl en dat stond mij als lezer om verschillende redenen tegen. Hendrikje blijft voor mij als lezer op afstand omdat ze vooral beschrijvend blijft en er eigenlijk weinig tot geen emoties uit haar verhalen naar voren komen. Terwijl dat juist het inkijkje is wat ik zou willen in een roman over de minnares van Rembrandt. Daarnaast is het verhaal ingedeeld in 'hoofdstukken' die de jaartallen besloegen, maar het werd mij niet duidelijk wat precies wanneer speelde dus wat dit toevoegde. En Hendrickje zou toch een naïef plattelandsmeisje zijn? Dat blijkt voor mij enkel uit haar bijgeloof rondom zaken als de pest, maar haar woordgebruik strookt niet met iemand die geen opleiding heeft gehad. Ten slotte lijken sommige jaartallen niet te kloppen met wat er op internet staat en eindigde het nawoord met deze belachelijke zin: Ik bedank Hendrickje Stoffels voor het feit dat ze zo'n leuk mens is geweest en dat ze altijd op de portretten van Rembrandt zal staan. Really? Jammer.

[The Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an odd book. Written from a point of view of someone of supposed little education. It was hard to follow at times. Although having recently visited Rembrandt House Musuem, it was interesting to visualize scenes from the book.

To be honest, the only thing I liked about it was the place. I live in Amsterdam and lots of the names in this book are streets around town. I had no idea who they were. It was interesting for that and places in Amsterdam. If I didn't live in Amsterdam, I probably wouldn't haven't found much interest in the book.

[Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the flow in language, even if it got confusing sometimes. I like the details and that it is very historically correct. What I don't like is that the book is very repetitive. When it comes to some things, you don't have to write it out every time. We know, and we can read between the lines. It's kind of annoying and the main reason I will not give the book more stars.

[David]

A very sensual book, full of finely-observed detail. Also, ultimately, very sad. It is (unusual for a novel) thoroughly documented, Sylvie Matton seeming to feel that authentication of her details is very important. It is a story of faith, love, art, plague, loyalty and hypocrisy. It moves fairly slowly as one feels immersed in the richness of the detail--not unlike Rembrandt's paintings.

[Ana Slump · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal, tras entender el Barroco y al artista, este libro me resulta exquisito.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to book sale finds and a generous gift certificate, we now have a "to be read" bookcase at our house. There are two things I get anxious about if we're close to running out: books and half and half (which is odd because the half and half is for coffee, and if I seriously reflect, well, perhaps I should add toilet paper to the list as well). At any rate, when I finally finished the second book in the Game of Thrones series, off I headed to said bookcase to pick something out.

We had just been to the art museum to see a wonderful exhibition of Rembrandt paintings, so the first thing that came to hand was this book, which I cannot remember acquiring. Timing seemed perfect, so I dove in.

The book is told in the voice of the titular Hendrickje Stoffels, hired as a housemaid by Rembrandt's housekeeper, and eventually his lover and the mother of a daughter to the much-older painter. She is illiterate, which (sorry for the small-mindedness) caused me to spend a bit of time wondering how she managed to get all this down on paper.

Hendrickje enters Rembrandt's life post-peak (for him), and so the book is a chronicle of their love affair and the painter's professional (but not artistic) decline. Plus the reaction of Amsterdam's movers and shakers to their illicit living situation.

The book is full of details about 17th century Dutch life and society. And the Plague. Oh the Plague! It's not a very long book but I do much of my reading at the breakfast table, so unless you enjoy (spoiler alert) contemplating maggots and buboes over your toast and eggs, you might be well advised not to eat and read at the same time. It took me a very, very long time to finish Rembrandt's Whore.

I admire and respect author Sylvie Matton's use of source materials, including close readings of Rembrandt's paintings, but between the leeches and the buboes and the bankruptcy and did I mention the Plague, there was little reading pleasure for me in this book.

Free tidbit: according to this book, there really was a cart that rolled through town with people shouting "Bring out your dead" in Amsterdam, during the Plague.

[Elizabeth Paladino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many worms

[Paloma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quizá porque continua en la línea de "Girl with a Pearl Earring" o "Tulip´s Fever", la historia de la mujer de Rembrandt, la concubina o la "puta" como ella misma se denomina, no es una novela innovadora ni mucho menos que logre cautivar al lector, precisamente porque no es la primera en el género.

La historia narra la llegada de Henrickje Stoffls a la casa de Rembrandt, cuando era todavía una joven. Al poco tiempo se convierten en amantes y ella se queda a su lado durante los siguientes 10 años. Durante este tiempo, lo único que parece hacer la protagonista es adorar cada acción del pintor, describir su bondad y su temple ante su caída de la sociedad holandesa del siglo XVII. No obstante, para un personaje como Rembrandt, verlo a través de los ojos de la mujer quien fuera su acompañante y que solo vivía para su atención, parece carente de emoción y sentimiento. En otras palabras, la descripción y las vivencias de la protagonista no parecen hacerle justicia a Rembrandt.

Es una historia lenta, y en muchos pasajes, aburrida. Para alguien que amó tanto a otro de los protagonistas las palabras y la historia se quedan cortas.

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had not already read a book about Rembrandt and his life, his wife, mistress, family, etc. I'm afraid I'd not know what was actually being talked about in this book.

Not usually am I a fan, even a small fan, of poetry or poetic writing, though I will admit I didn't mind the style of writing. However, I'd have been frustrated being able to comprehend a lot of what was being mentioned, referred to, even described, if I did not already have some prior knowledge on the subject matter.

Glad I read the book though. It is my partner's favourite artist and muse in his own work so I have some interest in the subject though as an art student and artist, I will admit that I had previously known very little about rembrandt.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best written books I have ever read. Read it slowly because I didn’t want to miss any of it . I recommend this to avid readers.

[Elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disjointed. Translated and not well edited or else very poorly written. Story of Rembrandt's later life is interesting.

Hendrickje Stoffels (1626 – 21 July 1663) was a model and mistress of Rembrandt.

Hendrickje lived in Rembrandt's house from approximately 1647, at first as a maid, but fast becoming much more. In 1649 she returned to Bredevoort for the summer (possibly with Rembrandt accompanying her), and is there mentioned as a witness to a christening in the Bredevoorts church records. The Eighty Years War was past, and peace was finally reaching even the eastern Netherlands. There are several paintings of Rembrandt for which she is suspected to have modeled.

Hendrickje was probably a model for Bathsheba at Her Bath (1654).
In 1654, when she was pregnant with Rembrandt's daughter, Hendrickje had to appear before the church council for "living in sin" with Rembrandt, who was a widower and 20 years her senior. She admitted that she had "committed the acts of a whore with Rembrandt the painter" and was banned from receiving communion. On 30 October 1654, Cornelia van Rijn was baptized in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam.

Rembrandt did not want to marry Hendrickje, because he would have forfeited the inheritance of his first wife Saskia van Uylenburgh by that. Even with this inheritance he had major financial problems, but without it he would have been bankrupt. Hendrickje wanted to strike up a friendship with Titus, the son of Rembrandt and Saskia. When Rembrandt was forbidden to trade as a painter by the Guild of Saint Luke, she and Titus came up with the idea of, and realized, an art dealership that was run by them and only stocking the paintings of the master. Also Titus appointed his half sister Cornelia as his heir.

In 1663, the plague hit Amsterdam, and Hendrickje died of it. She was buried in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam on 24 July 1663.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history.

A prolific painter, draftsman, and etcher, Rembrandt is usually regarded as the greatest artist of Holland's "Golden Age." He worked first in his native Leiden and, from 1632 onward, in Amsterdam.– However, a crucial aspect of Rembrandt's development was his intense study of people, objects, and their surroundings "from life," Rembrandt was a great teacher.

In Amsterdam, Rembrandt became a prominent portraitist, attracting attention with dramatic compositions like The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp In securing commissions, the artist was assisted by the Mennonite art dealer Hendrick Uylenburgh, whose cousin Saskia married Rembrandt in 1634. The Mennonites advocated personal interpretation of scripture, which probably influenced Rembrandt's subjective and often moving treatment of biblical subjects. The artist became highly successful in the 1630s, when he had several pupils and assistants, started his own art collection, and lived the life of a cultivated gentleman, especially in the impressive residence he purchased in 1639 (now the "Rembrandt House" museum). His Amsterdam signature, "Rembrandt" (dropping "van Rijn").

In 1635 Rembrandt and Saskia moved into their own house, renting in fashionable Nieuwe Doelenstraat. In 1639 they moved to a prominent house (now the Rembrandt House Museum) in the Jodenbreestraat in what was becoming the Jewish quarter; the mortgage to finance the 13,000 guilder purchase would be a primary cause for later financial difficulties. Rembrandt should easily have been able to pay the house off with his large income, but it appears his spending always kept pace with his income, and he may have made some unsuccessful investments.It was there that Rembrandt frequently sought his Jewish neighbors to model for his Old Testament scenes.

Although they were by now affluent, the couple suffered several personal setbacks; their son Rumbartus died two months after his birth in 1635 and their daughter Cornelia died at just three weeks of age in 1638. In 1640, they had a second daughter, also named Cornelia, who died after living barely over a month. Only their fourth child, Titus, who was born in 1641, survived into adulthood. Saskia died in 1642 soon after Titus's birth, probably from tuberculosis. Rembrandt's drawings of her on her sick and death bed are among his most moving works.
During Saskia's illness, Geertje Dircx was hired as Titus' caretaker and nurse and also became Rembrandt's lover. She would later charge Rembrandt with breach of promise and was awarded alimony of 200 guilders a year. Rembrandt worked to have her committed for twelve years to an asylum or poorhouse (called a "bridewell") at Gouda, after learning she had pawned jewelry that had once belonged to Saskia and that he had given to her.

In the late 1640s Rembrandt began a relationship with the much younger Hendrickje Stoffels, who had initially been his maid. In 1654 they had a daughter, Cornelia, bringing Hendrickje a summons from the Reformed Church to answer the charge "that she had committed the acts of a whore with Rembrandt the painter". She admitted this and was banned from receiving communion. Rembrandt was not summoned to appear for the Church council because he was not a member of the Reformed Church.The two were considered legally wed under common law, but Rembrandt had not married Henrickje, so as not to lose access to a trust set up for Titus in the son's mother's will.


Rembrandt lived beyond his means, buying art (including bidding up his own work), prints (often used in his paintings), and rarities, which probably caused a court arrangement to avoid his bankruptcy in 1656, by selling most of his paintings and large collection of antiquities. The sale list survives and gives us a good insight into Rembrandt's collections, which apart from Old Master paintings and drawings included busts of the Roman Emperors, suits of Japanese armor among many objects from Asia, and collections of natural history and minerals; the prices realized in the sales in 1657 and 1658 were disappointing. Rembrandt was forced to sell his house and his printing-press and move to more modest accommodation on the Rozengracht in 1660. The authorities and his creditors were generally accommodating to him, except for the Amsterdam painters' guild, who introduced a new rule that no one in Rembrandt's circumstances could trade as a painter. To get round this, Hendrickje and Titus set up a business as art-dealers in 1660, with Rembrandt as an employee.


In 1661 Rembrandt (or rather the new business) was contracted to complete work for the newly built city hall, but only after Govert Flinck, the artist previously commissioned, died without beginning to paint. When Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany came to Amsterdam in 1667, he visited Rembrandt at his house.

Rembrandt outlived both Hendrickje, who died in 1663, and Titus, who died in 1668, leaving a baby daughter. He died within a year of his son, on October 4, 1669 in Amsterdam, and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Westerkerk.
Cover of the book is Bathing woman, modelled by Hendrickje, 1654


In the 1640s, there were personal circumstances, such as Saskia's death in 1642, financial problems, and the artist's controversial relationship with his son's nurse, Geertje Dircks, and then with his maidservant (and close companion) Hendrickje Stoffels. The great group portrait known as The Night Watch , dated 1642 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), could be said to mark the end of Rembrandt's most successful years, but the legend that customer dissatisfaction ruined his reputation is refuted by later commissions from such prominent patrons as Jan Six and the Amsterdam city government.

The extraordinary volume of Rembrandt's production even after he declared insolvency in 1656 is punctuated by dozens of masterworks. The most innovative printmaker of the seventeenth century. In about 350 etchings, he extended the medium's capacity to suggest various kinds of illumination and painterly effects.

Their daughter, Cornelia, married and moved to Bali. Had a son and a daughter named after her parents but all trace of them is gone.

Titus died of the plague. His daughter died without children.

Caudle-sweet white wine with cinnamon.

Life's great Climacteric-seven times nine is 63. Anyone who gets past this age will live for a long time. Sixty three is the climacteric age.

[Irene O'Hare · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had been on my to-read list for quite awhile and it was good but not as good as I was hoping for. I'm wondering if it's a language difference, since it's translated from the French. For instance, the narrator (Hendrickje Stoffels) often says you and Rembrandt as though she is talking to different people, but both are in fact Rembrandt. I loved the concept of seeing Rembrandt's later years through the eyes of his common law wife. There were many passages that read as almost poetic, particularly when she was describing the seen of a painting and relating it to their current circumstances. I appreciated the depiction of Hendrickje as so different from Rembrandt, as she is a religious country woman with a lot of superstitions, especially surrounding disease. Her background wouldn't have included the arts and living with a painter in a bustling changes her life but even with that, she doesn't lose her personality or her beliefs. The ending especially was very moving and the presence of love throughout the book is powerful.

[Laine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rembrandt is known to us all as a master painter, perhaps one of the most famous and universally admired of all time. What this intensely researched book does is reveal everything we never knew or even wanted to know about him. He lived a life of intense pain, loss and disappointment while suffering under political whims and pressures of his day. But it is not Rembrandt’s voice we hear through the narrative but that of a young woman brought into his household as a servant. Uneven and at times bafflingly so, the narrative evolves as her relationships with the painter and others in his household evolve - from servant to model to loved, and from under- servant to preferred servant to blinding hatred and insanity. The book dramatically exposes our narrator’s development, despite her ignorance and illiteracy into an eloquent observer of the pain and loss experienced by Rembrandt in a time of bankruptcy and the plague.

[MaryannC Victorian Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why this book garnered such low ratings because I thought it was an eloquent and lyrical read based on the historically accurate relationship between servant Hendrickje Stoffels and the renowned painter Rembrandt. Hendrickje details how she first came to be a servant to the painter in 1647 and subsequently his lover, a fact that would prove costly to Rembrandt both financially and emotionally when the scandal brings chastisement from the church and the art community who no longer want to associate with him, coupled with a breach of marriage charge from another servant, Geertje Dircx.
Author Sylvie Matton richly details the cobbled streets of Amsterdam in the 1600's, the horrors and superstitious cures of the plague to Rembrandt's famous artworks that set me to do my own research and gave me more appreciation for one of the greatest artists in history and the wondrous art that still lives on today.

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this at a used bookstore and bought it because a Film class I was taking at the time discussed Rembrandt and Stoffels a lot! That being said, I’m not terribly interested in Rembrandt which is partially why I feel mediocre about the book. The other aspect is that the writing was beautiful but lyrical to a fault. Many sequences were hard to parse and the style became somewhat repetitive. Ultimately, the dedication to history is what kept me interested here with all the tidbits about Dutch life in the 16th and 17th century; I especially loved all of Hendrickje’s little superstitions around the plague.

[Jitsje · Rating 1 out of 5]

Niet mijn boek. Je valt gelijk in een verhaal zonder de personen te leren kennen. Ook door de boek heen gebeurt dit niet. Hierdoor heb ik Google er af en toe bij gehaald om de personen en de verhaallijn een logisch plekje te geven.

Daarnaast zit er veel godsdienst in verweven maar mis ik zelf de link naar het verhaal. Dit kan zijn omdat ik niet heel bekent ben met de bijbel en christelijke verbalen.

Nog een laatste ding wat ik niet snapte; het metafoor met de wormen. Dat het voor negatieve dingen staat heb ik wel door maar verder begrijp ik het niet goed.

[Mick Nott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unusual, idiosyncratic, well researched and original.
The internal monologue of Hendrijke who was illiterate and unschooled but portrayed here as intelligent, thoughtful and capable. Hooray!
The writing links closely to Rembrandt's works (i had them up on Google images as I read it) as well as his already well-documented life and times.
A passionate novel that made me realise and feel the times and lives, and Hendrijke's love and duty especially.
Brilliant.

[Linfron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read while in Amsterdam. Interesting after seeing so many of the paintings and Rembrandt's house but I didn't like the style of the writing. Difficult to follow and understand what was meant by what was written. Would have preferred a straight narrative.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand: a beautiful book almost written from emotion’s point of view. On the other: written in a lyrical, stream of consciousness style that’s really hard to follow. The story is so engaging you really WANT to follow the people and timeline, but often you just can’t.

[Sue Chaplin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I initially thought I would have to give up on this book but I did manage to keep going. I did found the constant jumping about from one thought to another from paragraph to paragraph detracted a lot from my enjoyment of the story.

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF in the first chapter. It was disjointed and boring and then she described her favorite game of beating cats to death so I don't want to know any more about her.

[Cameron Toney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think it's nearly impossible to pull off a book that has both a dreamy, stream of consciousness narration, and footnotes. One or the other!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just an average book.

[Jovanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fresh perspective on a woman who is often speculated, disregarded, and forgotten about in art history and I cannot disregard that but the continuous monologue makes it really hard to follow.

[Hannah Mudry · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Mary Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

The style of this, internal reflection, was not for me. It felt too passive. An in-depth familiarity of Rembrandt’s paintings also is needed to make this book not confusing. It was only by reading a Goodreads review that I figured out the protagonist was describing various works of Rembrandt’s as the book progressed. It felt like listening to someone go one about their weird dream for too long. I started this book before a trip to Amsterdam, never read it there, and it took a long time before I picked it up to finish when I got home. I feel like I’d learned somethings about Rembrandt, yet I never thought of the story while I was there. I never felt the connection between him and his lover despite this being told in her voice. To me historical fiction is at its best when it makes a person, place, or era come alive. This book failed that task.