REMBRANDT Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669)
Jan Lutma, Goldsmith, 1656
B. 276
Jan Lutma (1584-1669) was a celebrated gold and silversmith and Rembrandt presents him to us with the various tools of his trade: hammer and punches (in the cup), chased silver basin and silver candlestick. Lutma was the leading goldsmith in Amsterdam and his son was an etcher who may have been trained in Rembrandt;s studio. On of Jan Lutma's most celebrated commissions was the tulip beaker he made in 1652 for Nicolaas Tulp, who's anatomy lesson Rembrandt had painted at the very outset of his career in Amsterdam. The beaker was much prized by Tulp, and he left it to the Guild of Surgeons on his death.
Lutma's relaxed posture, calm face, and warm eyes seem to affirm that this was a man kind, pleasant and easy to know. Rembrandt selected the same old leather-backed chair with lion heads for two etched portraits of dignified older men, Haaring (B 274) and Tholinx (B284) done in the same year, 1656.
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