Reparation for Rembrandt’s ‘hysterical’ mistress

Rembrandt van Rijn does not get off very well in the performance by theater maker Julika Marijn. He was a great painter, to be sure, but also a narcissist with a hole in his hand, who quietly had his mistress locked up when she became too much of a nuisance.

In In the shadow of Rembrandt Geertje Dircx (ca. 1610-1656) gets a stage, as a woman with whom Van Rijn lived for years and who raised his son. In her text, Marijn describes Dircx’s life from the moment she stands on the doorstep of the celebrated painter as a housekeeper. Those moments are also given context in seventeenth-century Amsterdam. For example, the actress talks about Rembrandt’s status, the role of women at the time and the swirling capital, where everything stank.

The monologue shows that Rembrandt and Dircx come closer together when his wife dies. The painter does not want to get married, because then he will miss out on the legacy of his former wife. Dircx therefore shares a bed with him without being married – a disgrace, especially if Rembrandt falls for someone else after a few years and throws her out on the street. When Dircx pawns jewelry she received from the artist, he has her locked up ‘for re-education’. She ends up being imprisoned for five years.

Read also: Impressive performance about the last years of Etty Hillesum

Visual critical hit

This story is dynamically told in a beautiful setting by Bartel Meyburg. (Fragments of) works of art are projected on a wall of white strings that demarcate several rooms on stage. When Marijn talks about the lively Warmoesstraat, this street scene can be seen life-size; when she zooms in on the box bed, we see erotic etchings. Countless portraits and self-portraits by Rembrandt, biblical scenes and landscapes appear. Another visual hit is the outfit the actress is wearing: a stylishly layered combination of historical and modern.

Directed by Diederik van Vleuten, Marijn alternates between her role as Rembrandt’s mistress and moments when she addresses the audience directly to interpret history. This is informative, but sometimes a bit too explanatory. For example towards the end of the performance, when Marijn spells out the value of this (rarely heard) female perspective. In the history books, Rembrandt is a national hero, while his mistress was labeled ‘hysterical’. With this monologue, Geertje Dircx gets a voice and the perspective shifts, something that Marijn has already done with other women in previous monologues. As a result, it is now, for a moment, Dircx who casts a shadow.

View an overview of our theater reviews