LEONAERT BRAMER

Like many seventeenth-century artists, Leonaert Bramer traveled to Italy, where he became acquainted not only with the art of the Italians but also with the art of other Dutch artists working there. In this dramatically illuminated nocturnal scene, Bramer intensifies the drama and the visionary quality through a rough application of paint and the nervous, flickering reflections of light. In the pronounced treatment of light and dark, the mood, and the choice of costumes, one may detect Rembrandt's influence, while the foliage and the rendering of the two angels are close to the art of Lastman.