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This article was downloaded by: [University of Tasmania] On: 15 November 2014, At: 13:37 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/skon20 Soutine's Paraphrases of Rembrandt's Slaughtered Ox Avigdor W. G. Posèq Published online: 01 Sep 2008. To cite this article: Avigdor W. G. Posèq (1991) Soutine's Paraphrases of Rembrandt's Slaughtered Ox , Konsthistorisk tidskrift/ Journal of Art History, 60:3-4, 210-222, DOI: 10.1080/00233609108604298 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00233609108604298 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Soutine's Paraphrases of Rembrandt's Slaughtered Ox

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Page 1: Soutine's Paraphrases of Rembrandt's               Slaughtered Ox

This article was downloaded by: [University of Tasmania]On: 15 November 2014, At: 13:37Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art HistoryPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/skon20

Soutine's Paraphrases of Rembrandt's Slaughtered OxAvigdor W. G. PosèqPublished online: 01 Sep 2008.

To cite this article: Avigdor W. G. Posèq (1991) Soutine's Paraphrases of Rembrandt's Slaughtered Ox , Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History, 60:3-4, 210-222, DOI: 10.1080/00233609108604298

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00233609108604298

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Soutine's Paraphrases of Rembrandt's               Slaughtered Ox

Soutine's Paraphrases of Rembrandt'sSlaughtered Ox

AVIGDOR W. G. POSÈQ

To Professor Moshé Baraschon his seventieth anniversary

Soutine's paintings of a hanging carcass of beefwere recognized to derive from Rembrandt'sSlaughtered Ox in the Louvre, even on their firstshowing. The affinity particularly evident in theBuffalo Albright-Knox Art Gallery version (Figs.1 and 2)1 was pointed out by the French criticElie Faure,2 and later consistently repeated byother biographers, but although Soutine's adop-tion an Old Master as his model at a time whenmost modern painters regarded artistic traditionas a restraint on their freedom should have pro-voked some curiosity, the subject has seldombeen pursued any further. Admission of Sou-tine's dependence on the Rembrandt of course ·neither explains his choice of this particular pro-totype nor helps to explain his obsessive recur-rence to the repugnant theme. In discussingthese questions we propose to show that in beingmotivated by an intense inner need Soutine'sparaphrases also involved an instinctive under-standing of the submerged content of Rem-brandt's work.

Critics have long come to recognize that greatworks of art cannot be described only in terms ofstyle, but in adopting the iconological methodand considering images in the context of literaryor visual traditions, they often pay little atten-tion to the personal motivations behind the se-lection of a specific subject. Investigations ofsuch options are perhaps less decisive in workscommissioned by church or secular patrons, buteven there the reference to a determinate motifmay suggest a significant predilection. The studyof paintings which are not a response to external

Kunsthistorisk Tidskrift LX

demand, as in the case of Rembrandt, or of mod-ern works such as Soutine's, which were not onlyin conflict with prevalent notions of taste butalso with contemporary aesthetic pursuits, mustnecessarily proceed beyond the mere survey ofantecedents. Since the thematic choices may beconditioned by a variety of factors, some intu-itive or even unconscious, the problem demandsa multilevel iconological approach combinedwith an inquiry into the particular personal pré-déterminâtes.

The subliminal motivations of Soutine's artwere already guessed at by Elie Faure whoclaimed that Soutinés pleasure in depicting de-caying animal flesh conveyed a tragic sense ofmartyrdom, a melancholy vision of life and ofthe inexorable forces of death and destiny, aris-ing from his heart.3 Soutine's friend Emil Szittyaascribed the deeply unhappy mode of his paint-ings to a lack of parental love in childhood,which later caused severe emotional difficulties.4

More recently, on the occasion of a commemora-tive exhibition of Soutine's work, the range ofexegeses was broadened in various directions.5

Some authors emphasized the lasting impact ofhis ethnic origins6 as well as the poverty andhunger which he experienced in his youth,7

while others discerned in his works a manifesta-tion of a latent instinct of destructiveness andeven a suicidal wish.8 Soutine would have pro-tested against such interpretations for he disap-proved of critics who instead of examining thework of art pry into what he felt were "the artist'sprivate affairs".9 An art historian concerned with

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the universal validity of Soutine's œuvre cannotbut agree with him, but an inquiry into the ge-neric significance of his imagery must also con-sider the circumstantial evidence, and this,among others, involves paying attention to hisinner mainsprings. In discussing the significanceof his versions of the Rembrandt we propose toshow that by omitting the realistic butchershopenvironment and the female figure half-hiddenbehind the placidly hanging beef carcass, Soutinetransformed a scene which was then consideredas a low-life genre1** into a metaphor of his spiri-tual strife in which the flayed animal assumedthe character of a symbolic expiatory offering.11

Since unlike some modern artists who provideelaborate statements of their objectives, Soutinedid not commit himself to writing, we shall tracehis works' meaning in the light of his incidentalspoken remarks reported by his friends.

He was one of the numerous painters who inthe first decades of this century migrated to Par-is, joining the loosely-defined Bohemian coteriewhose Jewish members came to be known as the"School of Montparnasse", now referred to asthe Jewish École de Paris. The designation issomewhat misleading because these artists nei-ther collaborated in an established painter's stu- •dio nor shared a common style or ideology, noteven one that would suggest their self-definitionas modern Jewish art pioneers. Most of theminstinctively conceived the relinquishment oftheir cultural heritage and religious practices asan indispensable liberation similar to that whichother artists sought to obtain by defying aesthet-ic preconceptions. Their classification as a coher-ent group was mainly justified by close personalcontacts, but it also implies their sharing of theexperience of emerging from their respectiveprovincial enclaves into the whirlpool of the Pa-risian avantgarde. Though they made somefriends among their non-Jewish colleagues theywere never absorbed in the intellectual main-streams, remaining outsiders whom the Frenchcalled peintres maudites.12 This term seems espe-cially applicable to Soutine, defining his personalanguish as well as the ominous tone of his work.The extraordinary intensity of his imagery where

Rembrandťs Slaughtered Ox 211

some critics discerned an expressionist tendencywhich they ascribed to all Jewish artists,13 mayperhaps be better understood as reflecting Sou-tine's personal sense of disorientation in the Pa-risian milieu, and loneliness exacerbated by thepainful separation from his family and alienationfrom his origins.14 In the small orthodox Jewishcommunity of Smilovitchi (in Lithuania, thenunder Russian rule) the spontaneous pleasurewhich he took in drawing and his aspiration tobecome a painter seemed like an outrageous vio-lation of the Second Commandment. The associ-ation of the artistic profession with idolatry wasno doubt shared by Soutine's father, a poor tai-lor, who, wishing his son to help him in his dailystruggle to feed his brood of eleven children,could hardly have tolerated such ambitions. Itwas therefore only natural that powerful pres-sures were brought to bear to discourage the boyfrom that "unnatural" aberration.15 The fewfriends that Soutine later made in Paris recalledthat he seldom mentioned his childhood frustra-tions, never referred to his family, and even re-fused to speak his native language, but the Rus-sian born Israeli sculptress Chana Orloff whojoined the Parisian group, recalled that on oneoccasion Soutine impulsively told her that in hisyouth he was repeatedly punished for his draw-ing exercises. When once he dared to portray anold Jew, his deeply embarrassed elder brotherssought to expel the artistic dybbuk by a cruelbeating which left permanent bruises on hischest.16 He did not mention his parents' reactionto this treatment, but his silence implies that thefather approved of it, or at least that he neithercame to his rescue nor punished the other sons.Soutine experienced this as hostility and lack ofparental love and never came to terms with thesense of inequity and a need to compensate forhis inferiority feelings.17 Later he told a differentversion of the story, implying that the old Jewwas his religious teacher, perhaps the rabbi him-self, and the aggressors the rabbi's sons.18 What-ever the case, the offenders were brought beforea judge and the fine which they were obliged topay enabled the young Soutine to realize hisambition to become an art student in Minsk and

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ΐΐβ. 1. Ch. Soutinc, Slaughtered Ox. Oil, 1925. Buffa-lo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

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ΐίβ. 2. Rembrandt, SlaughteredOx. Oil, 1655. Paris, Louvre.

later in the Vilna (Vilnius) School of Fine Arts.

But he never forgot the humiliation and became

completely estranged from, his kindred.

Leaving his family he transferred his emotion-

al allegiance to the artistic calling which he em-

braced with a truly mystical fervour. Eventually

he managed to reach Paris19 but his ambition to

become a modern painter was impeded by his

upbringing. The textual teaching which he had

received in the religious school did not prepare

him to appreciate the purely aesthetic art forms

then in vogue, and having been brought up in

the Jewish reverence of the ancient sages he had

little sympathy for his museum-weary col-

leagues' endeavours to overthrow artistic con-

ventions. Instinctively he was drawn to masters

like Tintoretto, El Greco and Goya, and also to

Van Gogh.2 0 Chana Orloff reports that during

their frequent visits to the Louvre he admired

the romantic realists, especially Corot and Cour-

bet, but his most intense hero-worship was al-

ways reserved for Rembrandt.21 One can easily

imagine that he was attracted to the Dutch mas-

ter's biblical subjects and his many portraits of

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214 A. W. G. Posèq

Jews, while Rembrandt's life story, particularlythe fact that he painted his most importantworks while socially ostracized, also made himinto a paradigm of a painter never wavering inhis total dedication to art. Adopting Rembrandtas his moral guide Soutine set out to study hiswork with the dedication of an acolyte.22 Twiceat least, he travelled to Amsterdam and was espe-cially fascinated by tht Jewish Bride, and he alsowent to London to admire Rembrandt's Batherwhich he later evoked in one of his own paint-ings.23 Among the Dutch master's more accessi-ble works the Slaughtered Ox in the Louvre musthave seemed the most striking proclamation ofRembrandt's free artistic expression.

The attraction of the Louvre picture was prob-ably strengthened by the affinity of its subject tothe motifs that Soutine himself had been paint-ing since his arrival in Paris. A survey of his earlyworks shows a remarkable number of depictionsof animal corpses. At first he limited himself toherrings, presumably an important ingredient ofhis meagre diet, but the repertory progressivelyextended to larger fish, plucked birds, a deaddog flanked by two forks tearing at its insides,and other skinned animals.24 Among the latter adisembowelled hare and a butcher's display of a 'slain calf are particularly notable, producing aneffect quite similar to that of Rembrandt's Ox.25

The fact that such unappetizing pictures foundfew customers added to Soutine's misery andinner sense of solitude, but since his difficultiescould have been at least partly resolved if he hadbut chosen different topics, one must assumethat the selection of his subjects was stimulatedby a powerful neurotic drive of the kind thatTheoHor Reik describes as masochistic pursuit of"victory through defeat", which, when associat-ed with creative activity, results in an artist'sseemingly inexplicable strive for insuccess.26

Soutine's stubborn clinging to the macabre alsoconforms to a clinical observation that depres-sive states of mind, often inhibiting verbal com-munication, do not hamper, and even seem tointensify other kinds of disclosure, especially inthe pictorial medium. In certain cases depressivespells resulting from the subjectively experi-

enced injustice of destiny or of God, and presen-timents of adversity, actually coincide with peri-ods of intense creativity which restore the indi-vidual's self-respect and become a means of self-healing.27 Soutine himself was instinctivelyaware of the therapeutic aspect of his work andits possible relation to traumatic experiences. Onone occasion he declared that in depicting deadanimals he exorcised a childhood memory of agoose which he had seen slaughtered by a butch-er, adding that the dead animals also remindedhim of his punishment for portraying the rab-bi.28 The suggestive association of creative activi-ty with psychic injury was broadened on anotheroccasion when Soutine commented that hehoped to emulate Courbet who conveyed theatmosphere of Paris in a female nude, while hehimself wished to show Paris in an ox-carcass.29

Apparently he meant that the animal cadaverembodied his predicament as an artist, aggravat-ed by his deprecatory evaluation of his achieve-ment in comparison with that of the great paint-ers on whom he drew the idealized concept of hisvocation, but his special preference for the maca-bre could arise from a subconscious level. ErichFromm has observed that an inability "to makesense of one's life" may in creative individualsresult in impulsive self-directed violence and anattraction to corpses and things connected withdeath, sometimes associated with secondarysymptoms such as a special appreciation of tech-nical virtuosity and a profound respect for au-thority.30 In Soutine's case the aggressive drivesublimated in his portrayal of the animal cadav-ers, was also reflected in his notorious tendencyto destroy his own paintings,31 while the relatedbehavioural traits would explain his instinctivesearch for backing among the Old Masters.

In the course of his visits to the Louvre hemust have seen Rembrandt's Ox many times,before, in 1925, he suddenly realized that thisparticular picture provided a kind of aestheticvalidation for his own neurotic attraction tomorbid subjects. His friends remembered thatthe impression was so staggering that he was sickfor a month. Eventually he decided to com-memorate the discovery in a series of large horn-

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Rembrandťs Slaughtered Ox 215

Fiß. 3. A photograph of Soutineholding a dead chicken. Paris,1925.

ages to the Louvre picture, but unlike the muse-

um copyists, he was not satisfied with painting a

mere replica, and decided to re-experience that

which he imagined Rembrandt felt in front of his

repulsive subject. For this purpose he acquired a

whole beef carcass in the nearby Vaugirard meat

market, and had it brought to the studio to be

used as a real-life model.33 Fascinated by the

slaughtered beast's isolation from its appropriate

setting he heightened its pathetic effect by sur-

rounding it with freely sketched signs of destruc-

tion. He never admitted what he felt while de-

picting the bloody nature morte but since the

deeply ingrained Jewish aversion to blood often

persists even when most religious observance is

abandoned, the act of painting must have been a

truly masochistic experience which Soutine inar-

ticulately hoped would be recompensed by the

satisfaction of having made a picture comparable

to a Rembrandt. The experience may have also

provoked other associations. Taking note of the

fact that Soutine's early education consisted

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216 A. W. G. Posèq

Fij. 4. Rembrandt, Self-Portrait with a Dead Bittern,Oil, 1633. Dresden Gemälde Galerie, Alte Meister.

mainly of the study of the Httmash (Pentateuch)it is possible that he would connect the animalcarcass with biblical sacrifices. The act of paint-ing would thus be like a symbolic offering inwhich, like an ancient officiant who by laying his

. hand on the bullock associated himself with theoblation {Lev. 4:4), Sou tine subconsciouslyidentified with the flayed animal, or rather withits pictorial representative. Exhilarated by themasochistic fantasy, he worked oblivious to thepassage of time, intensely flinging himself"bang-bang at the canvas" until he reached astate of complete exhaustion.33 When in the lackof refrigeration the meat lost its freshness hedaily brought additional pints of blood to renewits ghastly effect and obsessively repeated thedisgusting experience. Eventually the blooddripping through the door and the stench ofdecay aroused the suspicions of the concierge whocalled the health authorities and had the offen-

sive object removed. This however did not deterSoutine who continued to create other horridimages of dead hares and fowl, and even pro-duced further tributes to Rembrandt's Ox.3i

Soutine's enthralment with the Louvre picturewas noted by several of his friends who reportthat he stamped his foot, declaring that the Rem-brandt would drive him crazy. Hugues Simon,the first collector of Soutine's "boucheries" re-membered his hourlong diatribes on what he feltin front of Rembrandt's work in the course ofwhich his interlocutor's slightest objection pro-voked overexcited and furious responses.35 An-other friend, the painter René Gimpel, laterturned art dealer, recalled lengthy discussionswith Soutine who agitatedly expanded on Rem-brandt's greatness, calling him a giant and even"a god".36 The exaggerated adoration of theDutch master in which one may discern an in-verse reflection of the association of art withidolatry in Soutine's native milieu, is also reflect-ed in a photograph taken at the time when hewas painting the flayed ox, where he is shownplayfully holding a plucked chicken (Fig. 3).37

Since Soutine always posed himself carefully forphotographs and was self-conscious about hisappearance,38 his strange self-presentation withthe fowl may have been inspired by a Rembrandtself-portrait in the guise of an aristocratic hunterholding a bittern (Fig. 4).39 However, the humor-ous mode of the photograph, implying an ironicanalogy between Rembrandt's display of thedead bird and Soutine's own morbid attractionto dead animals, can be understood as a laughingsuggestion that the idolized master was subjectto the same human weaknesses as himself. Theimplicit joke also suggests that in adopting Rem-brandt as an moral paragon, Soutine instinctive-ly treated him as a surrogate "father figure" towhom he transferred the inhibited filial frustra-tions.

Soutine's ambivalent attitude to Rembrandthas many parallels. in the biographies of otherartists whose reverence for a teacher or masterwas often combined with passionate rivalry.40

Soutine himself after having destroyed a paint-ing exclaimed that if he were Rembrandt he

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Rembrandt's Slaughtered Ox 217

would begin to paint again, but "unfortunately

he was only Soutine".4 1 Aspiring artists' despair

of ever being able to match the achievement of a

great master is sometimes matched by aggressive

behaviour, whose unpleasant results they experi-

ence as retribution for questioning the master's

primacy.42 The archetypal creative conflict is

epitomized in the classical myth of Marsyas who

having challenged Apollo's supremacy as a musi-

cian was flayed alive, and as a warning to those

who defy the god's prerogative, his skin was

hung on a tree.4 3 Ostensibly recounting the

divine artist's revenge the legend also implies

Marsyas's envy. Psychoanalytical comments go

even further, interpreting Marsyas as a personifi-

cation of the libidinal forces of the id where the

creative impulses originate, and, stressing the

latent oedipal content of the story, claim that

by provoking Apollo, Marsyas subconsciously

sought punishment.4 4 This may also be true of

Soutine. Considering that he also was challeng-

ing a "god-like" master whom he regarded as a

father figure, his obsessive recurrence to the ma-

cabre may have been motivated by his inner need

to atone for what he felt as an audacious Mar-

syas-like defiance.

The possible association of Soutine's work

with Marsyas's torture which psychologists ex-

plain as a "powerful neurotic wish to be painful-

ly suspended or to dangle helplessly from some

contraption", is reinforced by the swinging agia-

tion of his butchered animals. Reik notes that the

masochistic urge is parallel to, or even merged,

with a strong desire to be "butchered", or alter-

nately to witness, or to be the subject of a human

sacrificial ritual which he calls the "Moloch fan-

tasy".45 Though individually repressed, such fan-

tasies are sometimes re-enacted in legends, sym-

bolic rituals and folklore. Comparative studies of

the ancient myths have associated the story of

Marsyas with human sacrifice, which in various

cultures was replaced by ceremonial hangings of

animals.46 The ancient proscription of human

offerings is also evoked in popular imagery, for

instance in the Russian Lubok representations of

"The World in Reverse", showing a butcher-ox

cleaving a human figure hanging head down-

ϊύία uwana fiirm sus.«i .p/mauta MAam/iaw+.i mmci eråim ŕ«fii τοmva* & χγρ. ietojrawoto/mon otri ÍO&H autuu Τ> wrssnrn imrījuac nvpuu ,

Fig. 5. An Ox Who Became a Butcher. Russian Lubokengraving (detail), 18 cent. Moscow, Pushkin Muse-um.

wards (Fig. 5). 4 7 The chastisement motif may

also recur in the work of major artists, as for

instance in Titian's Flaying of Marsyas, where

departing from the iconographie tradition that

showed the hapless satyr being flayed upright, he

is depicted hung from a tree by the legs (Fig.

6). 4 8 The scene, evoking St. Peter's wish to be

crucified head downwards, has been explained as

conveying the idea of a special punishment for

the satyr's attempt to overturn the established

order.49 This may also hold good for Soutine's

work. The hanging carcasses which he himself

associated with his artistic predicament can thus

be recognized as symbolic expressions of a self

directed "Marsyas syndrome".

Like the spontaneous drawings of psychically

affected individuals the works of great artists

sometimes betray intimations of calamity. For

instance Titian's Marsyas has been interpreted as

reflecting the very old master's premonition of

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Έίβ. 6. Titian, The Flaying ofMar-syas. Oil, 1570-75. Kromeriz(Krcmsicr, Czechoslovakia),Umeleckohistoricke Museum.

his death in the plague which devastated Venicein 1576.5 0 Soutine's flayed animals seem to com-municate a similar foreboding. Considering thathe suffered from a very painful type of ulcer51

these works may have been motivated by a innerpresentiment of death. He died only in 1943, inNazi occupied Paris, but the paintings were laterunderstood as a prophetic forewarning of thesecond world war, and several artists indeedadopted the hanging carcass motif as an allegoryof inhumanity and horror.5 5 The tragic symbol-ism of Soutine's imagery was already remarkedby Elie Faure who unperturbed by the fact thatthese works were inspired by what was then seenas Í genre painting, described them as a "holo-caust offering to man's animal appetites, evokinga liturgical crucifixion".53 The apparent incon-gruity between the message conveyed by Soutineand that which was then ascribed to his proto-

type may perhaps be resolved by more recentinterpretations.

Rembrandt is known to have often chosen histopics with scant regard for their market value,sometimes endowing them with complex auto-biographical connotations. This may also be val-id for the Slaughtered Ox. The hypothesis thatthe motif had a special personal meaning is sup-ported by the notion that the Louvre paintingwas preceded two decades earlier by a very simi-lar but smaller version, now in the Glasgow ArtGallery, while a notice in Rembrandt's studioinventory, referring to "a small ox from life"(een ossie neer't leven)M implies that he kept oneof these two pictures for himself. The allusion tothe "small ox" having been painted from life canbe related to two preparatory drawings of slaugh-terhouse interiors; the earlier, dated 1635, showstwo butchers at work,55 while the other, presum-

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ably later sketch shows a group of butchersflaying a somewhat human-like animal carcass.56

Rembrandt's interest in such scenes was presum-ably fostered by a fashion for realistic still-lifes ofvictuals, sometimes featuring lavish displays ofraw meats and fowl, such as Pieter Aertsen'sMeat Stall (1551), where the inner recesses af-ford a glimpse of a slaughterhouse with a sus-pended carcass.57 In Martin van Cleve's Slaugh-tered Ox and in the works of Adriaen van Ostadeand Barent Fabritius, the detailed butchershopscenes were condensed, and even more so in thedisembowelled carcasses by Abraham van derHecke and David Teniers which have been tenta-tively interpreted as emblematic symbols of sin-ners punishment.58 Moreover a study of Aert-sen's prosaic Meat Stall has revealed that theapparently secular scene is a veiled religious met-aphor, where the hanging beast alludes to theCrucifixion.59 The allegoric tradition embodiedin these works has been traced to sixteenth cen-tury Dutch illustrations of the Parable of theProdigal Son (Luke, 15:11-32) including anengraving by Maerten van Heemskerck whichwas known to Rembrandt.60 The Patristic glossinterpreting the calf which the Prodigal Son'sfather killed in his honour as the Saviour's expia- 'tory sacrifice is illustrated in the Bible Moralisée,where a juxtaposition of the slain calf with theCrucifixion is expounded by a text saying thatthe Heavenly Father gave his Son for the redeem-ing of Mankind.61 As an attentive reader of theScriptures Rembrandt would also have knownSt. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews (9:10-26),where Christ's atonement with his own flesh andblood for the "sins of many" is compared toanimal sacrifice, evoking the fact that the ancientHebrew ritual replaced the even older humansacrifices to Moloch {Lev. 18:21; Ό eut. 18:10).

Rembrandt's association of the bloody-ox car-

cass with human offerings suggested by the pre-

liminary sketch where the slain beast has an an-

thropomorphic shape, would explain the other-

wise incongruously pathetic mode of the Louvre

painting, which sensitive viewers intuitively asso-

ciated with the Passion.62 Scholarly attempts to

decipher the submerged meaning of the image

Rembrandťs Slaughtered Ox 219

related it to the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and

even without reference to that source, described

it as "an almost religious picture".6 3 One critic

compared it with the Descent from the Cross64

while others preferred to interpret it as a secular

allegory of death6 5 or perhaps as a memento

mori.66 Considering that Rembrandt conceived

of his art as self-expression,67 and also taking

into account the fact that the Glasgow Slaugh-

tered Ox is dated (c. 1635?) to a period when he

lost several of his children, his mother and his

wife in quick succession, while the later version

was painted in 1655, at the time of the financial

collapse which wrecked his career,68 one may

propose that these pictures reflect a religious

ideology which saw in human tribulations a di-

vinely sent chastisement. The flayed ox can thus

be understood as a memento of sin and also of

forgiveness, reflecting Rembrandťs resignation

to his fate, and his melancholy concept of the

relationship between man and God. 6 9 It is there-

fore hardly surprising that the Slaughtered Ox

has been compared to Titian's Marsy as.70 The

point that emerges here is not only that even in

Rembrandt the choice of the pathetic theme was

conditioned by intense personal motivation but

also that the significance now ascribed to his

work fits Soutine's attempts to match Rem-

brandt's mastery. Especially notable is the fact

that Soutine's paraphrases have a similar charac-

ter of propitiatory offerings.

Soutine's empathy with the butchered animal

anticipating by several decades modern icono-

graphical insight into Rembrandt's work, was

clearly induced by complex and at least partly

subliminal motives. Though presumably he was

not aware of the motifs possible relation to the

Parable of the Prodigal Son, the choice of the

Louvre painting as a model and the symbolical

tributes to Rembrandt, may be understood as an

expression of Soutine's need to redress his real

parent's blow to his self-esteem by an ideal rec-

onciliation. The affinity between the personal

content of Soutine's imagery and that which

Rembrandt conveyed in ťhe flayed animal also

explains why their works share the same kind of

direct psychological appeal.

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Notes1 Soutine painted in 1925-6, at least ten versions of thesubject now distributed among the Amsterdam Stedelijk Mu-seum, Musée de Grenoble, Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris,Bern Kunstmuseum and several private collections. For a sur-vey of these works see: P. Courthion, Soutine peintre du déchi-rant (Lausanne, 1972), p. 73-6, illustrated catalogue, p.238-242 (later cited as Courthion). On the Buffalo version seeibid, p. 77, cat. p. 240: A; also M. Wheeler, cat. Soutine (NewYork, Museum of Modern Art, 1950), p. 67 (later cited asWheeler). A. Forge, Soutine (London, 1966), p. 91, pl. 28(later Forge); A. Werner, Soutine (Paris, 1986), p. 24 (laterWerner). On Soutine's model in the Louvre sec: A. Bredius,The Complete Edition of the Paintings of Rembrandt (1935,revised by H. Gerson, London, 1969), no. 457 (later cited asBredius); J. Rosenberg, Rembrandt: Life and Work (1948, repr.London, 1968) p. 265; K. Clark, Introduction to Rembrandt(New York, 1978), p. 114 (later Clark); B. Haak, Rembrandt;His Work, His Time (New York, 1969), p. 252-253 (laterHaak). For a good colour reproduction sec: G. Schwartz, Rem-brandt. His Life, His Paintings (Harmondsworth, 1985), p.255, Eg. 292 (later Schwartz).2 E. Faure, Soutine (Paris, 1929), p. 5-6 (later Faure), alsoidem, "Ombres Solides", Œuvres Complètes (Paris, 1964), vol.7: pp. 609-612, partly reprinted by J. Leymaire in: cat. Soutine(Paris, Musee de l'Orangerie, April-Sept., 1983), p. 11.3 Faure, Soutine p. 10.4 The author also ascribes Soutine's inability to experiencelove to his early sexual experience with prostitutes, cf. E.Szittya, Soutine et son temps (Paris, 1985), p. 44-53 (later citedas Szittya).5 E.-G. Güsse (ed.), cat. C. Soutine (Münster WestfalischesLandesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Dec. 13th,1981-Feb. 28th, 1982). The exhibition was also shown inTübingen, London and Lucerne. The English translation ofthe catalogue published by the Arts Council of Great Britain inconnection with the exhibition's transfer to London (HaywardGallery, July 17th-August 22nd, 1982) will be cited below ascat. Soutine (1982).6 M. Tuchman, "Chaim Soutine, 1893-1943", in: cat. Sou-tine (1982), p. 49-71, especially p. 50-51. See also: E.Dunow, "Soutine's Still-Lifes", ibid, p. 74, 77 and 88.7 Dunow, in: cat. Soutine (1982), p. 73-74.8 E. G. Güsse, "Death and Destruction in the Work of ChaimSoutine", in: cat. Soutine (1982), p. 99-111. Soutine's suicidaltendencies were also reported by his friend M. Castaing,"Memories of Soutine", ibid, p. 16. For an interpretation ofSoutine's works as metaphors of mortality see: M. Tuchman,"Soutine Distorted Pictures But Not People", Art News (Oct.1973) p. 87.9 Soutine used to say: "Je n'aime pas ce genre de critique.L'examen d'une œuvre d'art se transforme vite en une fouilledans les affaires privées de l'artiste", cf. Szittya, p. 109.10 For a discussion of Rembrandt's work in the context of theDutch butchershop genre sec: Haak, Rembrandt, p. 252 f., andK. M. Craig, "Rembrandt's 'Slaughtered Ox?", Journal of theWarburg and Courtauld Institutes, 46 (1983), p. 235-239(this article will be cited later as Craig, "Slaughtered Ox").11 On symbolism of offerings sec: C. J. Jung, "The Psycho-logical Meaning of Sacrifice", in: Psychology and Religion, Westand East (London, 1958), p. 252-273; and idem, "The Sacri-fice", in: Symbols of Transformation (London, 1956),

p. 394-440; A. Joffé, "Symbolism and the Visual Arts", in:C. G. Jung (ed.), Man and his Symbols (London, 1964),p. 237. On the spiritual meaning of sacrifice see: E. Cassirer,"Mythical Thought", The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms,vol. 2 (New Haven, 1974), p. 221 ff.; and s.v. "Sacrifice", in:J. Chevalier & A. Geerbrant, Dictionnaire des Symboles (Paris,1982), p. 839-41.12 For this definition sec: Wheeler, p. 31. On Jewish artists'rebellion against religion, ibid, p. 35-37. For general com-ments on the Jewish École de Paris see: Szittya, p. 25 f., 32 ff.;K. Silver, "Jewish Artists in Paris 1905-1945", in: K. E. Silver& R. Golan, The Circle of Montparnasse; Jewish Artists in Paris(New York, The Jewish Museum, 1985), p. 32. On Frenchattitudes to the Jewish artists see: R. Golan, "The École Fran-cais vs. the École de Paris", ibid, p. 81-87. See also: E. Roditi,s.v. "Paris School of Art", in: Encyclopedia Judaica, 13: p.112-120; and A. Kampf, The Jewish Experience in TwentiethCentury Art (South Hadley, Mass., 1984), p. 89-96.13 The supposedly Jewish aspect of Soutine's work was firstproposed by W. George, Artistes Juifs: Soutine (Paris, 1928)passim; and Faure, p. 8-9. See also: R Cogniat, Soutine (Paris,1945), p. 21-22. Soutine's style has been associated with"Jewish verbosity", cf. Tuchman, in: cat. Soutine (1982), p. 50.The macabre imagery has been referred to as a paradigm of theinherent expressiveness of Jewish art, cf. P. d'Ancona, Modi-

gliani, Chagall, Soutine, Pascin: aspetti dell' espressionismo (Mi-lan, 1956), 87 ff., and also as an example of the "existentialistJewish tendency", cf. D. Sylvester, "The Mysteries of NatureWithin the Mysteries of Paint", in cat. Soutine (1982) p. 43.14 On Soutine's loneliness and his sense of estrangement fromthe Parisian environment see: A. Werner, p. 24, also E.Dunow, Chaim Soutine 1893-1943 (Diss. New York Universi-ty, New York, 1981), p. 6.15 For Soutine's family negative attitude to his artistic voca-tion see: Szittya, p. 13 ff., and Forge, p. 7; W. George, Soutine(Paris, 1952), n.p.; M. Tuchman, Soutine (Los Angeles CountyMuseum, 1968), 7f.; also Sylvester, in: cat. Soutine (1982) p.43, and Tuchman, ibid, p. 49. For the general cultural back-ground see: Ch. Abramski, "The White Russian Jews Before1917", ibid, p. 18-22.16 Ch. Orloff, "About Chaim Soutine", in: H. Gamzu, ChanaOrloff (Tel-Aviv, n.d., 1951?), p. 64 (Hebrew, later cited asOrloff). Orloff's memories were also published in French:"Mon ami Soutine", Evidences (1951), p. 17-21.17 The inferiority complex (Minderwertigkeitskomplex) is be-lieved to result from traumatic childhood experiences of inferi-ority, see: A. Adler, "Vor- und Nachteile des Minderwertigs-keitsgefühls", Pedagogische Wärte, 40 (1933), p. 15-19. For ageneral discussion of Adler's ideas on this subject sec: H. L.Ansbacher and R. R. Ansbacher, The Individual Psychology ofAlfred Adler (New York, 1964), p. 52-55 and 256-262. Thetraumatic character of this incident was stressed by Soutinehimself, cf. Szittya, p. 107 (see below in note 29). The lack ofparental warmth and the bitterness left by the incident havebeen discussed by Güsse, in: cat. Soutine (1982), p. 19.18 For the alternate version of the story see below note 29; alsoForge, p. 7, and Tuchman, in: cat. Soutine (1982), p. 49.19 Soutine left Smilovitchi in 1910 and spent the next threeyears in Vilna. According to Orloff he came to Paris in 1911,but the date is now corrected to 1913. For a resumé of theevents in Soutine's life sec: E. Dunow & E. G. Gūsse, "Chro-nology", in: cat. Soutine (1982), p. 113.

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Rembrandťs Slaughtered Ox 221

2 0 Szittya, passim, see also Dunow, in: cat. Soutine (1982), p .

75-76.2 1 Orloff, p. 63. On Soutine's special reverence for Rembrandt

see also Sylvester, in: cat. Soutine (1982), p. 43 f.2 2 According t o Adler one of the typical symptoms of the

"inferiority complex" is " inordinate hero-worship", cf. Ans-

bacher & Ansbacher, The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler,

p. 2 6 1 .2 3 O n Soutine's travels see: Garde (Gerda Groth-Michaelis),

Mes années avec Soutine (Paris, 1973) p. 4 3 . The picture based

on Rembrandt's Bather is titled A Woman Entering Water

(1931) cf. Courthion, p. 276A.2 4 Courthion, p. 178 A, B, 179 D, 180 C, 186 D, etc. The dead

dog picture whereabouts are unknown, cf. cat. Soutine (1982),

p. 51 . For a discussion of the other paintings sec: Dunow, ibid

(1982), p. 76-94.2 5 Courthion, p. 209: D ; cat. Soutine (1982), p. 104, and

Courthion, p. 242: A.2 6 O n the masochistic aspects of artistic creation see: Th. Reik,

Masochism in Sex and Society (original title Masochism in Mod-

ern Man, 1941, repr. New York, 1976) p. 396-398. On "Vic-

tory through Defeat", ibid, p. 431-437.2 7 On creative activity as self-therapy see: M. Assael & M.

Popovici-Wacks, "Artistic Expression in Spontaneous Paint-

ings of Depressed Patients", Israel Journal of Psychiatry and

Related Sciences, 2 6 / 4 (1989), p. 2 2 3 - 2 4 3 .2 8 " U n e fois j 'a i vu ce boucher couper la gorge d 'une oie et la

saigner. J'ai voulu crier mais son regard joyeux me rentra le cri

dans la gorge. Ce cri, je le sens toujours la. Quand, enfant, je

crayonnais maladroitement le portrait de m o n professeur c'est

de ce cri que je voulais me debarrasser, mais en vain! Quand j 'ai

peint le boeuf ccorché c'était encore ce cri que je voulais

liberer. Je n'y suis pas parvenu", Szittya, p. 107-108 .2 9 " O n pretend que Courbet a pu introduire dans un nu de

femme toute l 'atmosphère de Paris. Moi je veux montrer Paris

dans la carcasse d 'un bœuf", Szittya, p . 65 .30 E. Fromm, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (New

York, 1973) p . 3 2 5 - 3 6 8 , esp. 339. The relevance of Fromm's

study for Soutine was noted by Güsse in: cat. Soutine (1982),

p. 102.31 O n Soutine's destructive urge see: M. Castaing, in: cat.

Soutine (1982), p. 1 5 - 1 6 , and Orloff, p . 65 , also Szittya, p.

101-103.3 2 Szittya, p. 65. Orloff, p. 64. The story is also reported in all

Soutine biographies. See: Courthion, p. 76; and M. Castaing &

J. Leymaire, Soutine (New York, n.d.), p. 26-28. On Soutine's

need to paint directly from a real-life model see: Sylvester, in:

cat. Soutine (1982) p. 44 and Dunow, ibid, p. 75.33 Reported by Paulette Jourdain, in: Courthion, p. 44.

Courthion describes Soutine's act of painting as a "sadomas-

ochistic experience", ibid, p. 87. On Soutine's painting proce-

dure, Orloff, p. 65, and Szittya, p. 59-65. According to one

version the sanitary workers injected ammonia into the carcass

so that it would keep longer. Courthion, p. 76. On the car-

cass's removal, Orloff, p. 65.34 For the late pictures sec: Courthion, p. 242-254; cat. Sou-

tine (1982), fig. 52. Chana Orloff's remark (ibid) that Soutine

was too poor to buy another carcass is contradicted by the fact

that his financial situation improved in 1923 thanks to the

acquisition of a large number of his works by Dr. Albert C.

Barnes, who published a study of Soutine's work: "Soutine",

Les Arts a Paris (Nov., 1924).

35 Cited by Courthion, p. 73.36 "Ah the giant that is Rembrandt. He is a god, he is God",

in: R. Gimpel, Diary of the Art Dealer (New York, 1950), p. 68,

cf. Dunow, in: cat. Soutine (1982), p. 84.3 7 The photograph was first published by Szittya, p. 17. It was

taken in 1925 in Soutine's Rue de Mont Saint Gothard studio,

which he rented especially for painting the slaughtered ox

series, cf. Courthion, p. 74.38 Szittya, p. 19.39 The portrait dated 1639 is in the Dresden Gemaeldegalerie

Alte Meister, cf. Bredius, no. 31. The pose also occurs in a

painting by Christiaen van Couwenbergh showing a man with

a herring, cf. Schwartz, Rembrandt, p. 205. On the social

significance of Rembrandt's self-presentation as a hunter sec:

S. A. Sullivan, "Rembrandt's Self Portrait with a Dead Bit-

tern", Art Bulletin, 62 (1980), p. 236-243.40 For stories of artists' rivalries see: E. Kris and O. Kurz,

legends, Myth and Magic in the Image of the Artist (New York,

1979), p. 84-88 .41 "Si j'étais Rembrandt je devrais maintenant me mettre a

peindre--mais par malheur je ne suis que Soutine", Szittya, p.

103.4 2 Kris and Kurtz, Legends, p. 120-125.43 Ovid says that after Apollo defeated Marsyas in a musical

contest, he punished him by stripping off his skin as blood ran

down on every side (Met. 6: 392 ff.). According to other classi-

cal sources (e.g., Diodorus Siculus, III: 58-59 ; Hyginus, Fabu-

la, 53 ; Apollodorus, I: 42 ; and also Pliny, N.H., XVI. 89) Apol-

lo nailed Marsyas's skin to a tree. Later the skin was shown in

the cavern near the Marsyas River. Cf. R. Graves, Greek Myths

(Harmondsworth, 1964), I: p. 77.44 L. Adams, "Apollo and Marsyas: a Metaphor of Creative

Conflict", Psychoanalytic Review, 7 5 / 2 (1988), p. 319-336.

The Marsyas story has usually been treated as an allegory of

hybris and its punishment. The psychological interpretation of

the myth is anticipated by Dante, who in the first "Can to" of

the Paradiso refers to the flaying of Marsyas as a symbolic

purification of the soul in the mystic union with God-Apollo

(I: 19).45 Reik, Masochism, p. 4 6 - 4 7 and 58. On the hanging fantasy,

ibid, p. 66.46 The custom has been observed in the most disparate loca-

tions, including Sweden, Germany, China and the Philippine

Islands. Similar practices arc reported in Ancient Greece where

the goddess Artemis, known as "The Hanged One" , was

hanged in effigy each year. For the concern of such practices

with the myth of Marsyas, which presumably evokes the ritual

hanging of Attis's priests, later replaced by animal offerings

see: T. H. Gaster (ed.), J. Frazer: The New Golden Bough (New

York, 1959), p. 377-379 . The evocation of human sacrifices in

classical myth is also discussed by C. G. Jung, "Symbols of the

Mother and of Rebirth", in: Symbols of Transformation, p .

233 f. See also above n. 11 .4 7 The motif is known from various reprints, the oldest is an

anonymous mid-18th cent, coloured print from the workshop

of Akhmetieff, titled "An ox who did not wish to be an ox and

became a butcher" (Moscow, Pushkin Museum, Rovinski Col-

lection no. 176), cf. C. Claudon-Adhémar, Stampe popolari

Russe (Milan, 1974), p. 23 , fig. 122. The motif is believed to

derive from older French models which also had counterparts

in Italy and Catalonia; P.-L. Duchartre, L'imagerie populaire

russe et les livrets gravès 1629-1885 (Paris, 1961), p. 36. For a

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222 A. W. G. Posèq

hand-coloured reprint of 1820-1830 sec: A. Stepanova-Sytowa, Lubok, Russische Volksbilderbogen: 17. bis 19. Jahrhun-dert (Leningrad, 1984), no. 48.48 Apollo and Marsyas, Kromeriz (Kremsier), CzechoslovakiaUmeleckohistoricke Museum. See: R. Palucchini, Profilo diTiziano (Florence, 1977), p. 61 , pl. LXIII. For conventionalrepresentations of the Marsyas story see: E. Winternitz, "TheCurse of Pallas Athena", in: Studies in the History of Art Dedi-cated to William E. Suida (London, 1959), p. 186-195.49 Titian's picture was probably inspired by Lodovico Dolce'sparaphrase of Ovid stressing that Marsyas deserved this punish-ment for his temerity in challenging a god. Sec: H. E. Wethey,Tee Paintings of Titian: Mythological Themes (London, 1975),III: p. 153, plates 170-172. For a psychological interpretationof the motif see: Adams, "Apollo and Marsyas", p . 232.50 On Titian's death in the plague see: N. Pozza, Tiziano(Milan, 1976), p. 375-392. The special meaning of Titian'spicture has been discussed by J. Neumann, Titian, the Flayingof Marsyas (London, 1962) passim, and P, Fehl, "Realism andClassicism in the Representation of a Painful Scene: Titian's"Flaying of Marsyas' in the Archepiscopal Palace Kromeriz",in: Czechoslovakia: Past and Present (The Hague, 1962), II: p.1387-1415.51 On Soutine's physical suffering see: Orloff, p. 64.52 I have discussed this tradition in a paper on "Butchers'Dialogue: The Hanging Carcass Motif in Modern Jewish Art"delivered to the Jewish Art Section of the World Congress ofJewish Studies, Jerusalem, August 1989 (Abstracts), to be pub-lished as "The Hanging Carcass Motif and Jewish Artists",Jewish Art 1 6 / 1 7 (1990-91) p. 139-156.53 " . . . [ils] font songer a quelque crucifixion liturgique pour jene sais quel holocauste aux appetitcs sacrés de l'animal hu-main", Faure, Soutine p. 10 f.54 For the inventory list sec: M. Strauss & M. van der Meulen,The Rembrandt Documents (New York, 1979) no. 408, p . 359;On the Glasgow panel see: Bredius, no. 458; good colourreproduction in Schwartz, p. 255, fig. 293.55 Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, cf. Ο. Be-

nesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt, (1973), no. 400, also C.

White, Rembrandt (London, 1984), p. 78, fig. 54.5 6 Berlin-Dahlem Staatliche Museum Kupferstichkabinett, cf.

Bencsch, The Drawings, no. 1160; also Haak, p. 252; Clark, p.

114; and Craig, "Slaughtered Ox", p. 238, fig. 41 a.5 7 C. Cutler, Northern Painting from Pucelle to Bruegel (New

York, 1968), p. 459; and also: E. Bergstrom, Dutch Still-Life

Painting in the Seventeenth Century (New York, 1983), p.

16-19.5 8 Like Rembrandt , van Cleve included a w o m a n butcher, cf.

Craig, "Slaughtered O x " , p. 237, fig. 38 d. T h e possible rela-

t ionship of Rembrandt ' s work to van Clevc was n o t e d by J. A.

E m m c n s , " R e p u t a t i o n and Meaning of Rembrandt ' s Slaugh-

tered O x " , Museum Journaal voor Moderne Kunst, 1 2 (1967) p .

112 ff. Van der Hecke's Flayed Ox is in the Amsterdam Rijks-

m u s c u m ; Tcnier's Interior with a Slaughtered Ox (1642) is in

the Boston M u s e u m o f Art. For an interpretation of these

paintings in relation to R e m b r a n d t see: Craig, "Slaughtered

O x " , p . 2 3 7 - 2 3 8 , figs. 39a , 4 0 a . For a comparison to the

works of Fabritius and van Ostadc see: Haak, p . 252. For other

examples see: J. Foucart et al., Le siècle de Rembrandt: tableauxHollandais des collections publiques françaises (Paris, 1970) p.179.59 Bodily nour i shment is taken as an allegory of Christianspiritual sustenance, cf. Κ. Μ. Craig, " P i e t e r Aertsen and " T h e

'Meat S t a l l ' " , Oud Holland, 9 6 (1982) , p. 1-15.6 0 A complete edit ion o f van Heemskerck prints is listed in t h e

Rembrandt s tudio inventory, cf. Craig, "Slaughtered O x " , p.

2 3 5 . T h e hanging carcass moti f also occurs in a satirical allego-

ry o f " P r u d e n c e " by Pieter Brueghel t h e Elder, cf. A. Klein,

Graphic Worlds of Pieter Brueghel the Elder (New York, 1963),

p. 235-6, pl. 52.6 1 London, Br. Library MS Harley 1527, fol. 35v., facsimile in

A. De Laborde, La Bible Moralisée conservée à Oxford Paris etLondres (Paris, 1 9 1 1 - 2 7 ) . For the typological gloss see: St.Jerome's Letter 21 " T o Damasus" , Migne, PL. XXII, 338 .6 2 T h e mot i f was adopted by Daumier in a Parisian butcher-shop scene where the butcher 's pose recalls the Elevation of theCross, cf. Β. Lehmann, " T w o D a u m i e r Drawings" , Bulletin of

the Fogg Art Museum, 6 ( 1 9 3 6 ) , p . 1 3 - 1 7 ; Κ. Ε. Maison, Ho-

noré Daumier: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Waterco-lours and Drawings (London, 1967) II : p . 89.63 Clark, p . 114. The possible relation of the Slaughtered Ox tothe New Testament parable was first suggested by J. A. Em-mens, "Reputation and Meaning of Rembrandt 's SlaughteredOx" , p. 12 ff.64 A. M. Hind , Rembrandt (Oxford, 1938), p. 121 -122 .65 J.-E. Mueller, Rembrandt (New York, 1969), p. 173 .66 E. de Jongh, in: Cat. Rembrandt en zijn tijd (Brussels, Paleisvoor Schoene Kunsten, 1971) , p . 170.67 O n Rembrandt 's artistic ideology sec: J. A. Emmens, "Rem-brandt en de regels van der Kunst" , in: Versameld Werk (Am-sterdam, 1979) , II : p . 2 0 0 - 2 0 8 , also published in Italian:Rembrandt e la sua concezione dell'arte (Florence, 1978), pas-sim.68 On Rembrandt's financial difficulties see: J. F. Backer, "Lestraces judiciaries de Rembrandt", Gazette des Beaux Arts,4 6 / 9 (1924) p. 238-248 ; 10: p. 219-240 and 361 -368 ;47/11 (1925) p. 50-60.69 Craig, "Slaughtered O x " , p . 2 3 9 .70 S. Alpers, Rembrandt's Enterprise (London, 1988) , p. 32and 8 1 . The similarity between Rembrandt 's Ox and Titian'sMarsyas has also been noted by Winternitz, "The Curse ofPallas Athena", p . 190, n. 37 . O n the Titian see: R. Palucchini,"Tiziano e la problematica del Manicrismo", in: Convegnointernazionale di studi: Tiziano e Venezia (Venice, 1988) , p . 4 ;also W. Braunfels, " I quadri di Tiziano nello studio di BiriGrande", ibid, p. 408.

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