Rembrandt's “Polish” Rider

Abstract

Anyone dealing with Rembrandt's so-called “Polish” Rider (Fig. 1) at the Frick Collection cannot help remembering another famous rider of the art of the past: the rider of Bamberg Cathedral (Fig. 18). There are some tangible similarities. Both are youthful figures, apparently idealized in some measure, with long curly hair, sitting erect and proud on their horses, with their glances turned outward toward no clearly defined goal. What makes them suggestive of each other, however, beyond such general features, is a certain air of mystery that has surrounded them both. Like the Bamberg sculpture, Rembrandt's painting is enigmatic in many respects. Within Rembrandt's oeuvre it is fairly isolated and its origin and meaning are shrouded. No written source prior to the late eighteenth century is connected with it. No document tells when it was done nor for what purpose. Its fragmentary signature, consisting of an R on a rock at the right, if genuine, proves only what need not be proved, Rembrandt's authorship. I...