{"title":"Rembrandt’s Portraits and the Contemporary Spiritual Care Encounter","authors":"Elizabeth D. Topper","doi":"10.1558/hscc.18935","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), the Dutch painter, printmaker and portraitist, is frequently listed as being among the greatest of all visual artists. His portraits, in addition to their undeniable technical virtuosity, seem to be illuminated by an extraordinary light that evokes a spiritual dimension. This article explores what can be extrapolated from Rembrandt’s empathetic portraiture with a view to positively impacting the spiritual care encounter. It describes Rembrandt’s ongoing process of introspection and his concomitant ability to bear witness to his sitters, as evidenced by his compassionate portrayals of their vulnerable humanity. A contemporary insight into the empathetic reading of faces, as reflected in portraiture, is demonstrated through a comparative analysis of several portraits from the 2020 “Portraits for NHS Heroes” project during the COVID-19 epidemic.","PeriodicalId":37483,"journal":{"name":"Health and Social Care Chaplaincy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Health and Social Care Chaplaincy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.18935","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), the Dutch painter, printmaker and portraitist, is frequently listed as being among the greatest of all visual artists. His portraits, in addition to their undeniable technical virtuosity, seem to be illuminated by an extraordinary light that evokes a spiritual dimension. This article explores what can be extrapolated from Rembrandt’s empathetic portraiture with a view to positively impacting the spiritual care encounter. It describes Rembrandt’s ongoing process of introspection and his concomitant ability to bear witness to his sitters, as evidenced by his compassionate portrayals of their vulnerable humanity. A contemporary insight into the empathetic reading of faces, as reflected in portraiture, is demonstrated through a comparative analysis of several portraits from the 2020 “Portraits for NHS Heroes” project during the COVID-19 epidemic.
期刊介绍:
Health and Social Care Chaplaincy is a peer-reviewed, international journal that assists health and social care chaplains to explore the art and science of spiritual care within a variety of contexts. The journal was founded in 2013 through the merger of the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy (issn:1748-801X) and the Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy (issn:1463-9920) . It continues to be the official journal of the College of Health Care Chaplains and members of the society receive the journal as part of their annual membership. For more details on membership subscriptions, please click on the ''members'' button at the top of this page. Back issues of both previous journals are being loaded onto this website (see Archives) and online access to these back issues is included in all institutional subscriptions. Health and Social Care Chaplaincy is a multidisciplinary forum for the discussion of a range of issues related to the delivery of spiritual care across various settings: acute, paediatric, mental health, palliative care and community. It encourages a creative collaboration and interface between health and social care practitioners in the UK and internationally and consolidates different traditions of discourse and communication research in its commitment to an understanding of psychosocial, cultural and ethical aspects of healthcare in contemporary societies. It is responsive to both ecumenical and interfaith agendas as well as those from a humanist perspective.