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如果你是个画家的话 You're a painter.
那么对你来说 你会认为什么事情是最糟糕的呢 What's the worst thing that can happen to you?
受到羞辱 还是被嘲笑 Disgrace? Derision?
都不是 最糟糕的事情是你不得不撕毁自己心爱的作品 No, the worst thing is to have to cut up your masterpiece.
那么这位荷兰最伟大画家是如何走到这一步的呢 What had brought Holland's greatest painter to this moment of artistic suicide?
伦勃朗曾经是一个城市有威望的领导人 而且这个城市的人们也以他为荣 Once, Rembrandt had been cock of the walk in a city that couldn't get enough of him.
阿姆斯特丹 一座五光十色 繁荣富饶的城市 Glittering, fat, prosperous Amsterdam,
但是那只是当时的情形 but that was then.
如今 他生活在一座博物馆公园的对面 Now, he's living opposite an amusement park,
那里每天晚上都躺满了醉汉 周末还时不时的发生斗殴事件 drunks throwing up on his doorstep, knife fights every Friday night.
但是他为什么要撕毁自己的作品呢 But why is he mutilating his painting?
它们理应高高的悬挂在市政厅的墙面上 It had been hanging on the walls of the Amsterdam town hall,
但是他突然作出了一个决定 but then a decision was made.
作品被取了下来 然后挂上了别的东西 Take it down, get something else to fill the space.
那么现在他准备怎么处理这些“劣质”作品呢 So now what's he supposed to do with it? This B-movie flop of a picture?
也许如果他可以把它裁小一些 Maybe, if he can cut it down a little,
那些喜欢画面中心部分的人就会出现了 there'll be someone out there who might like the centre of the painting,
就是画中的那个人像 the bit with the people in.
所以他就这么干了 So under the knife it goes.
这可是个严厉的惩罚 最严厉的 It's a brutal punishment, the worst.
但是伦勃朗为什么会受到这样的惩罚呢 And for what exactly is Rembrandt being punished?
因为他的画风有一种野性 从而脱离的大众的胃口 For being out of step with modern taste, for painting like a barbarian.
但是那个时候他已经厌倦了去精雕细琢所谓的美丽 But then he isn't interested in refinement and beauty. It bores him.
他在创作人类 像你我般有血有肉的人类 He does us, flesh and blood, you and me.
艺术是用来揭露人类真实的生存状态的 Art that exists to tell the truth about the human condition.
这也正是伦勃朗一直以来所感到自豪的 That's his everlasting glory,
但最终这却成了他的麻烦 but in the end, that's also going to be his problem.
艺术的力量：伦勃朗
十七世纪三十年代的阿姆斯特丹 当时伦勃朗风头正盛 Amsterdam in the 1630s, Rembrandt's on a roll.
他仿佛有点石成金之术 Everything he touches seems to come up trumps.
他总是能比人们先一步知道他们自己喜欢什么 He knows what the patrons want even before they know it themselves
而且没有什么事情是他做不来的 and there's nothing, I mean nothing, he can't turn his hand to.
伟大的历史事件 Great action-packed histories,
令人荡气回肠的故事 还有瞠目结舌的旁观者 heart-pumping stories with pop-eyed bystanders,
仿佛能随着上帝的呼吸在悸动的著作 books which seem to breathe and lift with the breath of God.
还有那些杰出的肖像作品 And portraits, spectacular portraits.
画家与城市 二者相辅相成 They were made for each other, the painter and the city.
正如没有人见过象伦勃朗这样的作品一样 Just as no one had ever seen paintings like Rembrandt's,
世界上从未出现过阿姆斯特丹这种城市 the world had never seen a place quite like Amsterdam.
1600年的阿姆斯特丹只不过是个死气沉沉的渔港 In 1600, it had been a backwater fishing port.
30年后当伦勃朗到达这里的时候 码头上堆满了来自中国的丝绸 Thirty years later, when Rembrandt arrived, the docks were unloading Chinese silks,
瑞典的铜铁矿石 Swedish iron and copper,
还有大众喜爱的糖和烟草 and the new mass-market addictions, sugar and tobacco.
就在一代的时间里 In one generation, the place had gone from provincial also-ran
这个地方一跃成为了世界上最繁荣的城市 to economic lord of the world.
这里应有尽有 Whatever you wanted, Amsterdam had it,
简直就是17世纪的超级折扣市场 the discount supermarket of the 17th century.
所以 可观的财富得以迅速的积累 So, fortunes were made, quick and spectacular.
而且那些爆发户还都爱显摆 And those who made them were not shy of showing them off.
所以一些精美的住宅建立起来的 So they built elegant houses on these canals,
而且这里的居民的消费品也都是上乘的 and into those houses went all the good things.
带有金印花的皮革墙纸 代夫特磁砖 Gold-stamped leather wall coverings, Delft tiles,
昂贵的镜子 还有他们已经征服的世界的地图 fine mirrors in rich frames, maps of the worlds they were conquering,
当然也少不了绘画 特别是他们自己的肖像 and, of course, pictures, especially pictures of themselves.
这位是尼古拉斯·鲁茨 是皮毛商人 This is Nicolaes Ruts, and his business is fur.
俄罗斯黑貂皮是最名贵的 Russian sable, in fact, the priciest of the lot.
穿着自己经营的货物为自己打广告是他本人的主意吗 Was it his idea, I wonder, or Rembrandt's, that he should brand himself
我认为 这也许是伦勃朗的主意 by wearing his stock in trade?
这可是点睛之笔 因为这幅毛绒绒的作品太具想象力了 In any event, it's a stroke of genius, for this is the hairiest painting imaginable.
毛皮大衣就像一条毛发瀑布顺流而下 象一条奢华的河流 All that soft fall of fur dropping down his body, like a river of luxury,
由于静电的缘故 有些毛发立了起来 the hairs standing up in a gentle charge of electrostatic,
然而尽管充满的奢华的调子 Yet for all the sumptuousness,
伦勃朗却尽力避免给人造成一种富而不奢的印象 Rembrandt has managed to avoid any impression of idle opulence.
他那一丝不苟精心梳理过的胡须 With his fastidiously combed whiskers and sharp eyes,
还有如那些被剥皮的动物般锐利的眼神 almost as sharp as those of the animals from whom the pelts were taken,
鲁茨的眼神透露出一丝不耐烦 Ruts' glance is that of a slightly impatient intelligence.
我们几乎要冲口而出 不好意思耽搁了您这么久 We almost want to say, ''Thanks for giving us a moment. ''
但同时他也很具立体感 But he's also solid.
头部侧面的投射阴影显得他很有思想 The deep shadow cast by the side of his head makes him thoughtful.
微微发红的眼睑 The slightly pinked inner eyelids,
表明他好像为了不辜负投资者们而去熬夜工作 as though he'd sacrificed his sleep for the good of the investors.
所以为什么JP·摩根会买下它就不足为奇了 No wonder JP Morgan bought the picture,
难道还有别的绘画能表现出一个成功商人的形象吗？ for has there ever been a better portrait of the businessman as hero?
伦勃朗不仅仅对那些富有的客户很了解 Rembrandt not only understood his rich clients
对他们心目中自己的形象也是如此 and the image they wanted to project of themselves,
他同样也是个顶级的油漆工（即画家） he was also a virtuoso manipulator of paint.
没有人会去注意一个中年人眼皮的细节 No one looked harder at the topography of a middle-aged eyelid,
一个油性鼻子泛出的油光 the oiliness of a prosperous nose,
还有如水般的眼睛玻璃体 the wateriness of the eye's vitreous membrane,
头发梳向后方并被一个亚麻布帽子包着 前额显得亮亮的 the shiny tightness of a forehead pulled back into a linen cap.
这幅作品是一位83岁的老年女性 Look at this, Rembrandt's portrait of an 83-year-old woman
现收藏于伦敦的国家美术陈列馆中 in the National Gallery in London.
那顶无边女帽的两翼微微透明 Look at the translucent fabric of her bonnet wings,
它们的边缘由画家一挥而就 their edges painted with a single stroke.
她的眉毛和因中风而下垂的眼睑 Look at her eyebrow and droopy eyelid, done with jabbing strokes,
微微显出了些许忧郁 the slightly unfocused melancholy,
还有因本身的脆弱导致的那种情绪 the mood of poignant vulnerability,
所有的一切都把这张饱经沧桑老练的脸庞柔化了 everything softening the face of a tough old bird,
毫无疑问 wistful in the certainty
离与天上的那位伟大的会计师（上帝）相见的日子不远了 it's not long now before she gets to meet the great accountant in the sky.
伦勃朗不仅是个画家 还是个心理学家 不是吗 Not just a painter, then, but a psychologist of the human condition, don't you think?
那么关于维拉斯奎兹 鲁本斯 范·代克的作品又会是怎么样呢？ What's the job of the other big hitters, Velasquez, Rubens, van Dyck?
要想绘出那些王公贵族们精心准备的面目 To paint masks, the studied look of princes and popes.
他们预先就知道在接下来的一天里他们要以何种面目见人 They know in advance, pretty much, the mask of the day.
崇尚武力 宫廷生活 martial resolution, regal care,
郁郁寡欢 pensive melancholy.
但是伦勃朗好像是在他们后方看过来一样 But Rembrandt looks behind the pose,
因此这也使得他的作品更能触动我们 and this is what makes his portraits touch us like nobody else's.
我们看到画家笔下的人物在向世界展示他们的面容 We can see people putting on their faces to the world.
但是这却让我们与之产生更多的共鸣 But it doesn't make us less, but more sympathetic to them.
你会想到他也许对 You'd think that with his perfect pitch
阿姆斯特丹的富裕阶层非常的了解 for understanding what the rich of Amsterdam wanted,
也许他就是和他们一起长大的 Rembrandt would have grown up with them.
但并非如此 他是在距阿姆斯特丹西南25英里的莱顿长大 But he hadn't. He'd grown up in Leiden, a textiles and university town
那里出产纺织品 还有所大学 about 25 miles southwest of Amsterdam,
伦勃朗一家是开磨坊的 莱茵河就在磨坊场旁流过 Rembrandt's family were millers. The river Rhine flowed past their mill,
这也是他名字的来源：伦勃朗·范·莱茵 giving the painter his name, Rembrandt van Rijn.
他上了拉丁语学校并进入了当地大学深造 the one who went to Latin school and the local university.
所以在14岁就辍学成为了一名画家（我认为）可能是一种信念驱使下的行为 So dropping out at 14 to become a painter was, I suppose, an act of faith.
你要知道 这位小画家的时间可不充裕 Mind you, no time for teenage masterpieces.
做学徒太累了 Too busy doing what apprentices had to,
混合漆料 研磨颜料 mixing primer, grinding pigment,
还得在发出肉腥味的亚麻油中悬料 suspending it in meaty-smelling linseed oil.
感谢上帝 现在是没有人掘墓从烧焦的骨骼上刮取黑色颜料了 No one, thank God, robbed graves anymore to make black pigment from charred skeletons.
现在他们使用的是烟灰 They used soot instead.
终其一生 伦勃朗好像对油画颜料的那种朦胧状态很是喜爱 All his life, Rembrandt seemed to love the filmy muck of oil paint.
同时代的人从来没有弄清它的质地配料 No one in his century ever explored its texture,
这些颜料从浓而县得硬质到淡而富有流动感 也更为活泼 from thick and crusty to thin and fluid, more lovingly.
我们可以在他二十多岁时的自画像中 You can see this plunge into the materials of his craft
看出他的这种（对颜料的）痴迷 in this little portrait of himself, done in his studio in Leiden in his twenties.
画中的他身穿工作服 周围则是些工具 Here he is in his work clothes, all around him the tools of the trade.
但是注意一下这个地方 But just look at this place.
开裂的木地板 The plank floor is cracking,
还有墙角剥落的石膏墙面都表明 the plaster in the corner of the room is peeling, and that, of course, is the point.
这是个老地方 It's an old place, a dump really,
但这也是他与一件古老事物发生联系的地方 but it's still the place where a young man connects with an old thing,
艺术创作 the making of art.
因而这也是我们为什么会感到莫名的感动 And that's why it moves us strangely,
一个身穿大号家常服的华而不实的小家伙儿 the little gingerbread man in his oversize housecoat,
穿着一件作画时用到的斗篷 mantled in the trappings of painting.
但是看着他 你会发现他根本就不是在画画 But look at him. He isn't painting at all, he's just staring
而是在瞪着他藏起来的什么东西 at something he's hidden from us.
这个秘密只有唯一的特征 画架边上的那道浓烈的金色光芒 A mystery whose only feature is that intense golden light at the edge of the picture frame.
毫无疑问从中我们可以看出来 伦勃朗已是灵光乍现了 No wonder, then, that with all this cleverness, Rembrandt was talent-spotted,
最终被康斯坦丁·惠根慧眼所识 singled out by Constantijn Huygens,
他是荷兰最具影响力的赞助人 the most influential patron in all of Holland,
伦勃朗大有前途 他就是块璞玉 as the coming man, a diamond in the rough.
而惠根眼中的伦勃朗 And what Huygens saw in Rembrandt
是个超级故事讲述者 was a superlative storyteller.
比如参孙和黛莉拉的故事 Take the story of Samson and Delilah.
众多艺术家笔下的参孙是个裸体 他正处于性交后的睡眠状 Most artists did Samson as a naked hulk, slumped in post-coital slumber.
让我们看看伦勃朗是怎么做的 This is what Rembrandt does.
参孙不再是裸露的 而是穿上了衣服 Instead of nude beefcake, he dresses him.
而且更令人惊讶的是 他笔下的参孙更为脆弱 And, amazingly, makes him seem more, not less, vulnerable.
而这是通过那个结表现出来的 All his paint wizardry is used on that knot,
它仿佛把参孙与他的爱人还有自己的命运绑在了一起 which seems to tie Samson to his lover and to his fate.
黛莉拉挽起一撮参孙的古铜色的头发正准备剪掉它 Delilah lifts a lock of Samson's copper hair, ready to be shorn away,
但是此时的黛莉拉的另一只手却在轻弹着那撮头发 but as she does so, her other hand idly strokes his tresses.
所以只一个姿态 伦勃朗就抓住了故事的精髓所在 So in one gesture, Rembrandt gets to the heart of the story,
残忍的背叛和多情的温柔是一种带有悲剧性质的不可分离性 the tragic inseparability of amorous tenderness and brutal betrayal.
伦勃朗是如此出色 但是Huygens认为他的保护人如果去意大利的话可能会更好 Good as he was, Huygens thought his protector? could be even better if he went to Italy.
但是伦勃朗可没打算去意大利做雕刻 他有个大想法 But Rembrandt wasn't going to put in time sketching statues, he had bigger fish to fry.
毕竟 赚钱更具吸引力 This was, after all, the republic of money,
而且阿姆斯特丹就好像在他耳边说 来吧 我这里有的是钱 and Amsterdam whispered to him, ''Come and get it.''
所以他就去了 而且非常成功 So here he was, doing very nicely, thank you,
他为那些惊奇的故事作画 为人们绘制肖像 turning out stunning story paintings and portraits to order.
而且他已经不仅仅是个画家了 他也算是个艺术商人了 And not just a painter either, but also a partner in the art business,
伦勃朗Uylenburgh 有限公司 Rembrandt Uylenburgh Inc.
他开始收徒弟 买卖复制品 接受订单 Pupils taken in for a fee, copies made, original paintings commissioned.
这是他的合伙人的侄女 年轻的Saskia van Uylenburgh So what was it about his partner's niece, young Saskia van Uylenburgh,
胖胖的下巴 歪着脸在笑 with her butterball chinsand lopsided, crinkly grin?
一个不错的女孩儿 当然有人会认为这是一张“抓拍” A nice girl, certainly, a catch, one would assume,
她是北部弗里斯兰市长的女儿 自幼就失去了父母 being the orphaned daughter of a burgomaster of northern Friesland.
21岁的时候遇上了伦勃朗 当时她还有份家产在身 She met Rembrandt when she was 21, blessed with a portion of her father's estate.
有人说伦勃朗给她写过诗 我想那大概真有其事 If Rembrandt could have written poems to Saskia, he would have.
但是伦勃朗却以这幅肖像作为二人的订婚礼 But, instead, he did this precious little drawing to mark their betrothal.
画中的她充满自然气息 稻草帽 手里拿着野花 She's a child of nature, the straw hat, the wildflowers.
也只有伦勃朗会认为那朵孤零零的花儿是完美的 Only Rembrandt could have done that dangling broken stalk and thought it was perfect.
只要有机会 他在为她作画时总会来朵花儿 Whenever he can, he paints her with flowers. She's his flower child.
要知道 他们北方的亲戚们可不怎么喜欢花儿 Mind you, the relatives up north don't like it very much.
他们听说伦勃朗和Saskia到处炫耀二人的珠宝 They hear stories of Rembrandt and Saskia showing off their jewels
皮草 还有华丽的家居用品 and fur and fancy outfits
这些亲戚们说道 告诉你们吧 and they nod their heads and say, ''Told you so.''
伦勃朗花的可是Saskia的钱 他们是寅吃卯粮 ''Always knew he was after her money, and now they're spending it like there's no tomorrow.''
因为伦勃朗成为了一个购物狂 For Rembrandt has become a shopaholic.
不过他的品味倒是不差 Oh, a shopaholic in the best possible taste.
他从拍卖会上竞购大师级作品 He buys paintings by old masters at auctions,
但是偶尔他也会光顾Portobello Road（世界上最大的古董交易市场,位于伦敦诺丁山附近） but every so often, he hits the Amsterdam equivalent of the Portobello Road,
看来他真是购物购上瘾了 and he just can't stop buying.
日本盔甲 印尼匕首 Japanese armour, Indonesian daggers,
罗马皇帝的石膏半身像 plaster busts of Roman emperors,
他对自己说这都是为了艺术 and he tells himself it's all for art.
促使他疯狂购物还有另外一个原因 Here's another impulse buy,
位于阿姆斯特丹著名街道上的一座四层楼豪宅 a pricey four-storey house in one of the more elegant streets in Amsterdam.
当时这可不是适合普通艺术家们的居所 Not your usual artist's modest residence, then.
但是 为什么伦勃朗会如此豪奢呢 But then, why shouldn't he be extravagant?
毕竟他是荷兰最成功的画家 Rembrandt is, after all, the most successful painter in Holland,
世界上许多权贵家中都悬挂着他的作品 and his paintings are hanging in the houses of the richest, most powerful men in the world.
十七世纪三十年代是伦勃朗的全盛时期 What makes Rembrandt's later falling-out with his patrons so surprising
但是令人惊讶的是他与合伙人发生了一次争吵 is that in his salad days in the 1630s,
没有人能打败伦勃朗 no one could beat him for grasping exactly what it was
因为他拥有阿姆斯特丹第一代富人阶层想要拥有的东西 the first generation of Amsterdam moneymen really wanted.
但是他们想要的东西却是互相矛盾的 What they wanted were two contradictory things.
一方面当然是肖像了 拥有一幅个人肖像证明你是富有的 On the one hand, the portraits of course had to say, ''We are rich. ''
另一方面 肖像也证明了 On the other hand, they had to say,
他们也是害怕上帝的 也是凡夫俗子 终归难逃一死 ''But we are also God-fearing, plain, simple folk
谁都知道富不过三代 穷不过父子 who know that riches never last. ''
每个周日他们会到教堂里聆听牧师的教诲 Every Sunday in church they heard their preachers say to them,
不要忘记你的出身是多么的卑微 ''Do not forget the humble place from which you have come.
不要忘记三十年河东 Do not forget that today's worldly pomp
三十年河西 will be tomorrow's dust and ashes.''
所以这些肖像在令他们感到脸上有光的同时却又令其脸上无光 So the paintings had to show them off without making them show-offs.
伦勃朗使得这条富有却谦恭的界限变得生硬起来 Rembrandt had this rich-but-modest line down stone-cold.
所以 那些富人当然会排起队来邀请他了 So, of course, they're lining up for him.
不仅仅是商人们跃跃欲试，而且还有crene de la crene Not just merchants on the make but the crene de la crene,
例如 Trip家族 the family Trip, for example.
这个家族可是世界上的顶级大富豪 You don't get much richer than the Trips,
他们的铁铜及枪支产业遍及全球 who had a global empire of iron, copper and guns
而且制作精良 这在与西班牙作战的时候用处可不小 and were doing very nicely, thank you, in the endless wars against Spain.
但是这个家族的首领伊莱亚斯Trip But Elias Trip, head of the dynasty,
自认为是新教社会的中流砥柱 thought of himself as a pillar of Protestant society.
他是个守旧的 冷静的 常去教堂的军火商 Your old-fashioned, sober-sided, church-going arms trader.
所以当伦勃朗被雇来为其富有的家族 So when Rembrandt was hired to paint his hugely rich
和待字闺中的女儿玛丽亚Trip作画时 and marriageable daughter, Maria Trip,
伦勃朗意识到露富要露的有讲究 he knew that the display of wealth had to be crushingly subtle.
要小处见大 The money, then, was in the detail.
在白嫩的脸蛋儿上是个毫无美感的笑容 Below that milky pud face, with its artless little smile,
再下来是挂精巧的蕾丝披肩 is a waterfall of stunning lace.
这是Trip家族万贯家财的一个暗示 Just a hint of the Trip millions.
如今画家与被画者之间的关系十分的微妙 Now, the relationship between the painter and the painted is a devilishly subtle business.
但是伦勃朗却好像与富有阶层之间有着良好的互动 But Rembrandt seemed to be in perfect sync with the money classes,
他好像是他们肚里的蛔虫 那是因为他也想成为富人 understanding precisely what they wanted, because he wanted it, too.
但是他怎么样才能做到呢 And how he wanted it.
当时是1640年 伦勃朗34岁 Here he is in 1640, 34 years old,
穿着上装成熟 把自己穿的像是个以前的伟大艺术家 dressed to the nines, as if he's one with the greatest past masters.
他看过提香为意大利诗人Ariosto创作的肖像 He's seen Titian's portrait of the Italian poet, Ariosto,
于是他把自己按照同样的姿势摆了进去 and he's gone and put himself in the same pose.
宽大的丝织衣服 络腮胡 袖子放在贵族常用的石架上 The oversize, silky, mutton-chop sleeve on the aristocratic stone ledge,
活脱脱一幅自我庆功像 a picture which would be creamy with self-congratulation,
脸上的表情应该不是在做白日梦 were it not for a trace of wistfulness about his face,
倒有点儿像是对自己的成功有些难以置信 as if he can't quite believe all this success.
不管你对伦勃朗有什么看法 你都得承认他很胆大 Whatever you think about Rembrandt, you've got to admit, he's got nerve.
我的意思是 看看他吧 I mean, just look at him,
从一个农村的无名小卒成为艺术史上最厚颜无耻的画家 from provincial nobody to the cheekiest painter in the history of art.
这个聪明的荷兰人经常剑走偏锋（注 clog为木底鞋 指的是荷兰） Always on the edge, Mr Clever Clogs.
但是在阿姆斯特丹 如果就会为单个人画肖像 But you couldn't rightly call yourself a success in Amsterdam
那么不管被画者多么富有 你都不能算是个成功的画家 if you just did single-person portraits, no matter how rich the sitters.
阿姆斯特丹是一个带有“公司”性质的地方 Amsterdam was a corporate town,
那里的资本家比比皆是 发号施令的是董事会而非皇室 a beehive of capitalism, ruled not from palaces but from boardrooms.
所以那些老总们会想要些什么呢 So what did the corporate sitters want?
他们想要的第一件东西就是一幅惟妙惟肖的集体像 Well, first of all, of course, a good likeness of themselves,
艺术家们还得把他们之间微妙的次序表现出来 and then they wanted the artist to get their complicated pecking order just right.
所以前者得要求每个人都得被包括进来 The former has to get everyone in,
大家挤来挤去 你推我让 squeeze, squeeze,jostle, nudge.
最终的选择会是什么呢 What are the choices?
要么是画布足够大 每个人都能包进来 Well, either elasticate the rectangle until everyone's in
要么是把人分成高低两排 or double up the rows so one lot is on top of the other.
结果就像是橄榄球比赛出场的十五个人（即排成一列） Result, the rugby first 1 5.
你可以像伦勃朗最聪敏的学生塞缪尔·范·侯克斯特拉登那样 You could, as Rembrandt's most astute pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten put it,
把老总们的头部排成一列画下来 behead them all with a single blow.
但是伦勃朗对剥去社会面具有着永不知足的本能 Now, with his insatiable instinct for stripping off social masks,
他可不想那样做 Rembrandt wasn't going to settle for that.
所以 他说道 我们可不打算排成一列 So, he says, ''Okay let's throw away the boardroom line-up.
让那些陈规见鬼去吧 ''Let's just forget about the stale formula.''
我打算把你们带进一个真实事件中去 and turn cardboard cutouts into real events,
一场真实的社交戏剧 ''social dramas.''
于是 作品“夜巡”横空出世了 And here's the result, The Night Watch.
这幅作品是1642年应一家布料公司的商人们所求而作 他们还是兼职民兵 It was commissioned in 1642 by a company of cloth merchants and part-time militia men.
同时期伦勃朗作画不少 但是这幅绝对算得上是极品 And as with so many of his paintings at this time, Rembrandt had done the impossible,
它在物欲横流的商业时代中表现出了些许英雄气息 made something heroic out of the world of merchants and money.
当然人么都知道里面的人并不是真正的战士 Now, everyone knew the militia men in this painting weren't real soldiers.
真正的战争正在前线艰难的进行着 The real war was being slogged out somewhere beyond the frontiers.
这些不过是些玩具士兵 阿姆斯特丹的老爹军团 These were toy soldiers, Amsterdam's dad's army.
然而 老总们却喜欢沉醉于自己的战士形象 Still, they like to preserve the fiction of the citizen soldier.
他们会认为自己是在为捍卫阿姆斯特丹的自由而战 They like to think they'd be there to defend the freedom of Amsterdam.
拍马屁可是伦勃朗的拿手好戏 Rembrandt's great idea is flattery.
但这次拍马的目的已经不仅仅是令老总们感到自己是如何的年轻英俊 Now, it's not the kind of flattery that's going to make them younger
实际效果可比这重要多了 or better-looking, it's much more important than that.
这幅作品透出的那种恭维无疑带有童话式色彩 It's the flattery of the entire fairytale idea behind the painting.
一群身着盛装的布料商人在周末大玩士兵游戏 The idea that a bunch of overdressed textile men
这个想法成为了现实 playing at toy soldiers on Sundays were the real thing,
无疑这些人的内心深处都有着尚武的冲动 that they were actually alive with martial energy.
所以伦勃朗通过动作而非姿势把这种冲动表达了出来 So instead of having them pose, Rembrandt has them in action.
以往都是通过（盔甲之类的）装饰作为表达手段 He transforms them in that way from mere human ornaments
但是伦勃朗用的却是行军 射击和击鼓的侦察员 into marching, shooting, drumming guardsmen.
所以当心潮激昂脉搏喷张之时 So just how do you capture that instant
画家是如何捕捉到这个时刻的呢 when your pulse goes whoosh with excitement?
看来 伦勃朗一定是做了个深呼吸 Well, Rembrandt takes a deep breath, he has a what-the-hell moment
抱个“管他呢”的态度 然后就去寻找这个时刻去了 and he goes for it.
他摈弃了人挨人的模式 采用前后排列的动感方式 He changes the usual side-by-side format into a back-to-front action,
所以那些公司老总们仿佛是直冲我们而来 so that the company of the officers and men are coming right at us,
黑暗深渊的门口衬托出了3-D效果 3-D from the deep, dark doorway,
伴随着强烈的光芒 right up to the picture frame and into our own space,
直逼画面边缘仿佛要破框而出 blazing with light.
看看那个直逼画外的长矛 Look at that spear poking into our space.
伦勃朗一定知道 Rembrandt knows that rough painting
再粗糙的画面也会比任何文字描述 can actually convey the illusion of a three-dimensional object
更能表现出物体的3-D幻觉效果 better than any literal description.
画中的上尉名叫弗朗斯·班宁·库克 The captain's name is Frans Banning Cocq.
旁边是他的中尉威廉姆·范·鲁顿布鲁克 Next to him is his lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch.
班宁·库克是行动号令的发出者 Banning Cocq is giving the signal to move.
所以他的命令下达就像是中尉帽子上的一道阴影 So his order falls as a shadow on the coat of his lieutenant.
士兵们如在弦之箭蓄势待发 矛缨飘飘欲飞 They're off, already in motion, the tassels are flying.
乍一看 “夜巡”的画面仿佛是一团糟 不是吗 At first sight, The Night Watch seems merely chaotic, doesn't it?
但是这实际上是对处于约束状态下的混沌力量的赞美 But actually it's a hymn to noisy energy contained by discipline.
自由与秩序 在这里得到了完美的统一 Freedom and order, miraculously held together,
我认为伦勃朗应该抓住了那些荷兰人心中的想法 much as I think Rembrandt thought the Dutch themselves did.
那是他们得以成功的秘密 也是阿姆斯特丹的荣耀 That's the secret of their success. That is the glory of Amsterdam.
但是那些荷兰人真的了解这些吗 But did they see it, the Sunday soldiers?
除了空虚与自身的需要之外 Did the men who actually paid for the picture get beyond vanity,
为这幅画买单的人真的了解到了真实的自我吗 beyond their need for a realistic depiction of themselves?
据伦勃朗的学生范·侯克斯特拉登而言 According to Rembrandt's pupil, van Hoogstraten,
画中有些人有点儿发抖 some of the sitters were less than thrilled.
那倒不是因为气愤 只不过是有点不知所措 你仿佛能听到他们在说 Not outraged, just a bit bewildered. You can almost hear them saying,
应该没事的 毕竟他可是伦勃朗啊 ''Well, it's got to be good, it's a Rembrandt, after all,''
我能对艺术知道多少呢 但是看起来（艺术）有些糟糕 and, ''What do I know about art? But to me it does look a bit of a mishmash.''
但是气氛从温暖变得有些冷了 Let's just say that the climate went from warm to tepid.
也许伦勃朗感受到了 也许他没有 Perhaps Rembrandt felt it, perhaps not.
但是自从成为荷兰的绘画金童之后 But for the first time since becoming the golden boy of Dutch painting,
头一遭伦勃朗的一个资助人却对他的作品日渐不爽 one of Rembrandt's patrons is so unhappy with the painting,
他拒绝支付薪水 he simply refused to pay.
如果是别的老牌资助人倒也罢了 And not just any old patron either,
可他是安德里斯·德·格拉夫 此人能量不可小视 but Andries de Graeff, a man from whom jobs and prestige flowed.
我们并不确切的知道他为什么如此不爽 We don't know exactly what it was that offended de Graeff so much,
但是我们猜测可能是因为伦勃朗的画风越来越自由化 but we can guess, with Rembrandt painting ever more freely,
当然这对于一个老古董来说是难以接受的 it didn't quite match de Graeff's stately self-image.
为了得到薪水 伦勃朗不得不采取行动 To recover his money, Rembrandt had to resort to something
伦勃朗一定是感到被羞辱了 he must have found deeply humiliating.
于是一个由同侪组成的仲裁委员会成立了 An arbitration committee of his peers,
他们会来评判伦勃朗的作品 who sat in judgement on the quality of his painting.
但是这就好像是伦勃朗突然放了个臭屁 But it was Rembrandt who all of a sudden seemed to be giving off a bad smell.
然后变幻无常的财神就被熏跑了 The smell of someone from whom the fickle goddess fortune was shying away.
不知道你有没有这样的经历 Have you ever felt, at the top of your form,
当你处于人生的顶峰时 at the height of your powers,
一种奇怪但又清楚的感觉告诉你风向就要变了 an odd but distinct sense that the winds just change direction,
但是随后的情形会不会更厉害呢 that it's blowing a bit chillier now?
他不再得到订单 开始负债累累 The portrait commissions dry up, the house is loaded with debt
他的妻子Saskia也因结核病濒临死亡 and, inside the house, Saskia is deathly ill with TB,
她的身体遭受着咯血的摧残 her body wracked by spasms of bloody coughing.
他们一家不再对死亡感到陌生了 Death was no stranger to their family.
伦勃朗夫妇已经埋葬了三个孩子 Saskia and Rembrandt had already buried three of their children.
只有他们的儿子蒂图斯活了下来 Only the boy, Titus, was alive.
在1642年6月5日 On the fifth of June, 1642,
一个公证人被召来记录Saskia的遗嘱 a notary was called to the house to record Saskia's will.
九天后 Saskia也死了 Nine days later, she was dead.
一块布简单的包裹着她的尸体 Her body was wrapped in a simple cloth
一小段默默的队伍把她送到了边远的苏格兰教会 and in a silent little procession it was taken to the outer kirk for burial.
许多年前在这座房子的某处 伦勃朗曾经为爱妻作过画 Somewhere in this house, Rembrandt pulled out a portrait of her
二人开始了共同的人生旅程 that he'd begun many years before, at the playful start of their life together.
不管怎么说这都不太寻常 It's unusual for many reasons.
因为这是唯一一幅没有微笑的肖像 One of the only paintings in which there's not a trace of a smile.
她的头扭向一边显出侧面 Her head is turned in profile,
非伦勃朗式的轮廓显示出珐琅质的锐感 the outline un-Rembrandtian in its enamel-like sharpness.
但是他最后一次为爱妻戴上了珠宝与精美的衣物 But for the last time, he's loaded her with fabric and jewels.
看起来他总是喜欢为妻子穿上织物 It's as if he can't stop draping her.
但是这一次Saskia穿上了皮草披肩 But Saskia pulls the fur cape around her,
仿佛是要挡住死亡的冰冷气息 as if to ward off the chill of mortality.
但是太晚了 But it's too late.
终于 Saskia离他而去了 Well, then, Saskia had gone
这就像是一口叮当作响的大钟突然停止 and it was as though a peal of bells had abruptly stopped.
我们知道在1642年 It's too easy, we're told, to say that in that year, 1642,
对于伦勃朗来说 他的生活他的工作发生了翻天覆地的变化 everything changed for Rembrandt, for his work.
从生命中解读艺术的内涵实在是令人感伤 That's the sentimental, romantic version to read art from life.
但是 有一些事情在伦勃朗身上发生了 But, you know, something really had happened to Rembrandt,
那是华丽的终结（即自由创作方式的终结） an end to flamboyance,
他放弃了对外界喧闹的生活秀的戏剧性质的掌控 an end to his theatrical mastery of the outward, noisy show of life.
他仿佛把抛却了人世间的凡俗 It was as though he'd turned down the volume of the world
进入了宁静的内心世界 and switched on an inner quiet radiance.
不再有夸大的姿势 The big gestures melt away.
取而代之的是简单朴素 and are replaced by a tender simplicity.
他的作品不再是展示富有和权力的媒介 Instead of a portrait gallery of the rich and powerful,
靠在窗台上的女仆 a maidservant leaning on a sill,
外在与内心 caught between inside and outside,
左手在拨弄着项链 the left hand toying with her necklace.
在这幅作品里 Here, too, in his drawings,
只不过是寥寥几笔 just a few summary lines here and there
就构成了一幅作品 that manage to conjure up an entire scene.
这个见面礼可不小 难道你不这样想吗 这让我们可以和他一起共同完成作品 It's a huge compliment, don't you think, making us his partner in completion,
也让我们享受到怀疑带来的好处 giving us the benefit of the doubt
我们可不想类似于烦琐的文字描述之类的作品 that we wouldn't want anything so boring as the literal details.
尽管评论家不再把伦勃朗看作是前卫派画家 The problem though was that Rembrandt's critics didn't see him as offensively avant-garde.
而是令人生厌的古董派 They saw him as offensively old-fashioned.
这是为什么呢 因为文化大气候发生了变化 Why? Because of a cultural sea change.
复杂化第一次在荷兰被视为重中之重 For the first time in Holland, sophistication seemed far more important
简朴与虔诚开始退居二线 than simplicity and piety, the qualities the Dutch like to think
荷兰人惯于思考的品质把他们带出了同西班牙之间的战争阴霾 had brought them through their war against Spain.
但如今和平又回来了 But now, peace had been declared
到了十七世纪五十年代 这种迹象已经是显而易见了 and by the 1650s there was a perceptible sigh of relief.
所以随着伦勃朗的作品日渐隐晦 So just as Rembrandt's paintings were getting darker,
阿姆斯特丹的心情却日渐轻松愉快 the mood of Amsterdam was lightening and brightening.
谨慎的穿着磨盘似的环领的先辈们 The founding fathers and mothers, modestly dressed in millstone ruffs,
已经为子孙们让了道路 had given way to their children.
他们是爱炫耀的一代 令人惊愕的猩红色 还带着头巾装成熟 The peacock generation, gorgeous in screaming scarlets and coiffed to the nines.
其中许多人都会把出国作为教育的一部分 Many of them had been sent abroad as part of their education
归国时都急于把一堆全球流行的事物带回家 and had come back eager to import cosmopolitan stylishness
而他们的国家的公民却都很朴素 to the homespun republic.
他们喜欢奢华 要向意大利人看齐 They weren't interested in austerity, they wanted to be like the Italians,
他们也向往柱子（意大利建筑特色） they wanted pillars.
伦勃朗所有的黑褐色与浅橄榄棕色调的作品 All Rembrandt's murky browns and golds,
穿着吊带袜 松弛的乳房都令他们感到无趣 those garter marks and flabby breasts were a downer.
这我们都了解 对吧 We all know this story, don't we?
这些第二代 所谓的继承者 有着信托基金的乳臭未干的小子们 The second generation, the inheritors, the trust-fund brats,
他们思想狭隘 守旧的父母们不安了 so embarrassed by their parents who are so old-fashioned, so parochial,
这些父母们关心的只有教堂和生意这两样儿 and all they care about is church and business, business and church.
什么 做生意 不就是做买卖嘛 天哪 这也太俗了吧 And what a business, too, trade, my dear, so tawdry.
所以这些小子们离开了 到乡下购置了别墅安顿下来 So off they go and buy themselves country villas,
家产被委托给手上沾满墨水的办事员去管理了 while some inky-fingered clerk manages the family investment.
于是这种解脱让他们开始专注真正感兴趣的东西 优雅精致 This leaves them to concentrate on what they really care about, cultivation.
他们认为 艺术不是一份来自自然未经编辑的报告 For art, they think, is not just a report unedited from nature,
当然也不是仅仅因为碰巧的缘故 and it's certainly not about dwelling indiscriminately on ugliness
就不加选择的与丑陋毗邻而居 just because it happens to be there.
不 艺术应该是通往和谐的神圣之路 No, art is the divine road to harmony.
它纯洁无瑕 清澈见底 It's purity, it's clarity.
它应该远离奇形怪状的事物 Away with the misshapen,
还要带出一个雅致的时代 bring on the age of refinement.
这就是伦勃朗 他可没有什么文化小道具 And here's Rembrandt. No culture props.
只有插在腰带里大而多肉的一双手掌 Just those big, meaty hands stuck in his belt.
一切看起来都是那么的旧 Everything is starting to look heroically worn.
外套很旧 眼皮发红 The coat itself, the eyes pink-rimmed,
永远在寻找着什么的人的双眼 the eyes of a man who never stops looking.
然而大体上看一看整幅作品的粗略轮廓 And just look at the sketchiness of the whole thing.
他只不过是不想再去关心什么完成不完成了 He just doesn't care about finish anymore.
事实上 伦勃朗正处于某种进程之中 In fact, Rembrandt's in the process of doing something
其结果会令古典学院派大吃一惊 which horrified the classical academicians.
他正在消除素描与绘画之间的界限 He's abolishing the difference between a sketch and a painting.
作品的主题则是他最关心的人 And he does it for the subjects he cares most about.
他对她关爱有加 He cares a lot about her.
她就是Hendrickje Stoffels 一个来自偏远地区的女孩儿 父亲是当兵的 She's Hendrickje Stoffels, the soldier's girl from the sticks,
在Saskia逝世七年后她来到了伦勃朗身边 who came into Rembrandt's house seven years after Saskia's death.
当时伦勃朗儿子的保姆Geertje Dircx已经成为了女主人 Rembrandt had already taken his son's nurse, Geertje Dircx, as his mistress,
但是后来Hendrickje来了 but then Hendrickje arrived, and it wasn't long before he wanted
于是离Geertje Dircx被取而代之的时刻也就不长了 her in his bed and Geertje out of it.
画中的Hendrickje正在向下看着水面 Here's Hendrickje looking down into the water,
由于一部分腿部没入水下 水上残缺的腿部仿佛产生了些许幻觉 the break of her legs through its surface a little tour de force of illusionism.
但是伦勃朗并没有被幻像所迷惑 他并没有选用常惯手法来处理画面 Rembrandt now isn't choosing his way of handling paint just as the fancy takes him,
而只是把那种美感传递了出来 but to convey sensuous experience.
所以Hendrickje的衣服就拉的很高 So Hendrickje's shift pulled scandalously high,.
领口则很低 而且着色很重 her neckline scandalously low, are painted thickly,
然而她的肤色与水相近 while her skin tones are as liquid as the water itself.
而且在处理手部时 伦勃朗把手画成了不成形片状油彩 And the way Rembrandt has painted her hands as just an unmodelled smear
这几乎可以成为那些批评家找茬的根据了 almost dares the critics to make an issue of it.
你能听到他们会说什么的 不是吗 You can hear them, can't you?
伦勃朗·范·莱茵 噢 是的 很有天份 但是神啊 太困难了 ''Rembrandt van Rijn? Oh, yes, yes. Very talented, but my God, so difficult."
他老是不能完成一幅完整的作品 我想他已经廉颇老矣了 不是吗 "He never finishes a painting. I think his best years are behind him, don't you?"
而且他和那个女人在那坐老房子里 对不起 "And what he's doing rattling around in that big old house with his, excuse me,
到底在做些什么苟且之事啊 woman, I really don't know."
人们从未听说她怀过孕 不是吗 "You have heard she's with child, haven't you?"
二人之间那档子事肯定有点龌龊 难道你不这样认为吗 "It's just a bit squalid, don't you think?"
失了宠 又不能跟上时代潮流 Running out of favours, running out of time,
房子贷款又不得不延期偿付 late with his loan repayments on the house,
这些锁链一圈又一圈的缠绕着他 the coils of Rembrandt's ruin began to rope themselves around him
越来越紧 ever more tightly.
最终 伦勃朗不得不于1656年申请破产 Finally, in July 1656, Rembrandt filed for bankruptcy.
一次次的竞价 小锤儿一次次的落下 东西一件件的被拿走 Auction by auction, hammer blow by hammer blow, everything was taken.
不光是家具 家庭用品 This wasn't just furniture, household stuff,
就连伦勃朗的私人艺术收藏也被拿走了 it was also Rembrandt's own personal archive of art.
素描与油画 所有他苦心搜集来的奇异精巧的物件也都没有了 The drawings and paintings, all the strange, fabulous stuff he'd collected,
他一无所有了 all gone.
最后 只剩下孤零零的房子 Then, the house itself.
当时是1658年 伦勃朗一无所有 It's 1658. Rembrandt has lost everything.
那么他又是如何为自己作画的呢 So how does he paint himself?
像个国王 或是个神灵 天庭饱满 披风金光闪闪 Like a king, like a god, full frontal, mantled in lustrous gold.
然而正是这幅厚重的豪华作品为他带来了力量和魔法 And it's the paint, that thick, luxurious paint, which gives him his power, his magic.
同样 他的眼神也不像通常的破产者那样气馁 No bankrupt's downcast eyes, either,
而是直勾勾的盯着我们这些 but a stare coming right at us little people
自以为知道艺术些许真谛的小人物 who fancy we know something about art.
他的眼神仿佛在发出一个贵族式娱乐的提议 A suggestion of lordly amusement playing about his eyes.
他桶状胸部吸收着光线 腹部膨隆就像个妖怪 His barrel chest soaks up the light, the belly swelling in front of us like a genie.
整个身躯挤压着画框 The whole body pressing against the picture plane,
以他巨大的权威向画框发出挑战 challenging it to contain his massive authority.
但是如果伦勃朗认为他的画风是给他带来麻烦的一部分原因的话 And if Rembrandt thinks that his way of painting has been part of the problem,
但是显然他并不愿意放弃 he's certainly not going to abandon it now.
而且相反 事实上这幅作品是在怒吼 Just the opposite, in fact. This is a painting that bellows defiance
在向那些艺术创作的清规戒律展示他的蔑视 at the apostles of crisp clarity and contour.
他好像在说 看来你认为我画的太过了 对吗 ''So you think that stuff was a bit much, do you?'' he seems to be saying.
那你就好好的看看这个吧 ''Just get a load of this.''
你也许会认为画风自由而且还很粗糙 You'd think that with painting this free and this rough,
伦勃朗会每况愈下 但事实并非如此 it would be downhill all the way for Rembrandt, but it wasn't.
虽然房子 名誉 财产全没了 With almost everything gone, reputation, possessions, house,
他仍然有东山再起的资本 he still had a chance for a comeback, the comeback to end all comebacks.
这是新建成的市政厅 This, the new town hall, had just been built and the cream of Amsterdam painters
阿姆斯特丹的画家们争相要为它提供内部装饰作品 were asked to supply pictures for its interior.
伦勃朗豁出去了 也加入了这个队伍 Against all odds, Rembrandt was one of them.
市政厅并不能真正的代表这个建筑 不是吗 ''Town hall'' doesn't quite describe this place, does it?
这可不仅仅是职员啦 结婚证之类的东西 It's something more than clerks and marriage licences.
尽管海牙是官方政府所在地 Though The Hague is officially the seat of government,
但是谁都知道阿姆斯特丹才是金融中心 everyone knows Amsterdam is where the money is.
所以这个市政厅是（当地政府）不知羞耻的在向世界吹嘘 So the new town hall is a shameless brag to the world
自己是一个如何如何的大都市 about the great metropolis,
而且其规模还使威尼斯的总督宫相形见绌（古威尼斯共和国的统治中心和总督官邸） built on a scale that makes the Doges Palace in Venice look skimpy.
在这座庄严肃穆的美丽建筑中 格调是最重要的 In this solemnly beautiful setting, tone was all-important.
里面的每一幅作品都要受到限制 必须得是古典作品 Any new paintings were going to have to be restrained, severely classical,
而且画面要精美 pictorially well-behaved,
这好像专门是和伦勃朗过意不去 对吧 which doesn't exactly spell Rembrandt, does it?
事实上 就是如此 In fact, anyone but Rembrandt.
所以 首先这个人必须要绝对可靠 So, of course, at first, the job went to someone far more reliable,
这个人选就是画家富林克 the painter Govert Flinck.
也只有当富林克突然死亡之后 It was only when Flinck suddenly died,
市政厅会议室里才有人胆敢提起那个“R”字母开头的那个人 that someone in the council chamber dared to say the R word.
毫无疑问 经过一阵子沉默 然后也许有人说了 为什么不可以呢 No doubt greeted by silence, and then, perhaps, a, ''Why not?''
他穷困潦倒 正需要一份工作 他会好好干的 ''He's broke, he needs the work, he'll behave.''
难道他什么时候交货就那么重要吗 ''When has he not delivered the goods when it really counted?''
所以 一份委托经过秘密渠道给了伦勃朗 So, after getting the commission by the back door,
伦勃朗也开始着手进行创作 Rembrandt set about work on the painting.
我认为结果必将是伦勃朗那种视觉想象力的巨大胜利 The results would be, I think, the greatest triumph of his visual imagination,
但同时这也是他最骇人听闻的灾难 but it would also be his most shocking disaster.
完成的作品应该被挂在这里 The painting was supposed to hang here,
主厅旁的墙面的一个拱形空间 in one of the great arched spaces by the main hall.
市长所想要的是一幅关于 And what the burgomasters wanted was a stirring depiction of a legendary story
传说中荷兰如何建立国家时激动人心的时刻 of how the Dutch nation came to be born.
这个故事每个荷兰小朋友都能脱口而出 It was a history that every child in the Dutch Republic would have known,
它对荷兰的重要程度就像布迪卡（古英国女王）对我们英国人一样 as important to them as Boudicca is to us.
古荷兰又被称为Batavians The ancient Dutch, known as the Batavians,
当时他们也在反抗罗马的统治 had their rebellion against the Romans, too.
起义军的领袖名叫Claudius Civilis And their leader was called Claudius Civilis.
故事是这样的 The story goes like this.
Civilis曾经为罗马镇压过古荷兰的起义军 Claudius had been fighting on the side of the Romans against his own people.
但是不知出于什么原因 他倒戈相向 But, at some point, he has a change of heart.
他认为税收太重了 He decides there's been one tax too many,
他的同胞们都被榨干了 his country bled white.
所以他决定改变方向 于是召开了一个部落首领大会 So he switches sides. He summons a meeting of tribal chiefs,
他宣布了他的反叛并发誓要加入同胞的队伍 declares a revolt and swears them to join him.
首领们接受了他的誓言 大家歃血为盟 They take the oath, the die is cast, blood happens.
这是个激动人心的故事 但是要记住谁是订单的发出者 It's a stirring story, but remember who commissioned it.
国教（基督教） The Establishment.
噢 是的 值得尊敬的起义 但是只有在很久以前 Oh, yes, honour rebellion but only when it was a long time ago
而且只有通过最值得尊敬的方法才算是 and only in the most respectable way.
前提假设是他们已经得到一幅值得尊敬的作品 The assumption was they'd get a respectable painting.
他们得到的是这幅作品 What they got was this.
丑陋不堪 残缺不全 野蛮残忍 Ugliness, deformity, barbarism.
一群喋喋不休叽叽喳喳的傻蛋 嚼着洋葱 A bunch of cackling louts, onion-chewers, bloody-minded rebels.
作品里面刀光剑影 杀气腾腾 The paint slashed and stabbed,
简直就是一堆武夫 caked on like the make-up of warriors.
但是伦勃朗认为起义就是那个样子 But that's what rebellion is all about, Rembrandt thought.
他从未考虑过还有什么温文尔雅的起义方式 He didn't think rebels were gentlemen.
这位是起义首领 脸上受了伤 一只眼没了 Here's the rebel leader, with a wound in his face where his eye used to be.
但是如果艺术规则说礼貌起见 So what if the rules of art said you had to hide a blind eye
那只瞎眼得通过侧面轮廓隐藏起来又该如何呢 behind some decorous profile.
伦勃朗说了 不 我坚持把这只瞎眼放在脸的正中央 Rembrandt says, ''No, I'm gonna stick this blind eye right in the middle of your face.''
这就是野性粗犷自由的画风的成果 That was what wild, rough and free painting did.
一把地狱之剑 还有一只杯子 里面盛的可能是酒也可能是鲜血 Goes together with a sword from hell and a cup, maybe of wine, maybe of blood.
无需多言 很难想象盛大的揭幕仪式会顺利的进行下去 Needless to say, it seems hardly likely that the grand unveiling went down at all well.
我的意思是 看看这幅画吧 I mean,just look at it.
这是一幅充满了野性的作品 This is a painting drunk on its own wildness.
一点优雅的地方也没有 Nothing refined about this.
所以它被取了下来 被人嗤之以鼻扔在一旁 So down it came, deposed, disgraced, expelled.
最后伦勃朗不得不跪下来亲手剪破自己的作品 And down on his knees went Rembrandt, chopping up his masterpiece,
抱着一线希望会有人来买走一片半片 hoping against hope that someone would buy a piece of it.
看来希望很渺茫 Fat chance.
看来这幅作品不仅会阻碍他东山再起 The Claudius Civilis would not just be the ruin of Rembrandt's comeback,
他那最伟大的想象能力也会受到损害 it would also be the ruin of his greatest vision.
也许我也会这么想 但是还不太肯定 Or so I think. I can't be sure.
没有人能肯定 因为我们都没有真正的了解这幅作品到底像什么 None of us can, because we don't really know what the big picture looked like.
我们现在看到的作品只有原来尺寸的1/5 What we're looking at here is a fragment a fifth of the original size.
还是从伦勃朗刀下抢回来的 The bit rescued from Rembrandt's knife.
当看到这幅作品时你会想到“最后的晚餐” 这一点也不奇怪 No wonder you think ofThe Last Supper when you see this picture,
因为伦勃朗画的是一个非宗教的祭坛装饰作品 for Rembrandt has painted a secular altarpiece.
神秘而又危险 恣意的亵渎 Mysterious, dangerous, joyously profane.
没有什么（代表神灵的）光环 但是有一室金色光芒 No halo, but a bath of burning golden light.
可是却没有蜡烛 那是自由的能量在奔涌 No candles, just the power surge of freedom.
信念之火 The fire of an idea.
你会认为这又是一幅未完成的作品 And you're thinking that it looks unfinished,
非常粗糙 还没有完工 aggressively rough, a work in progress.
但是伦勃朗却说了 其实是在声情并茂的怒吼 But Rembrandt's saying, in a voice that's a visual roar,
那就是你们 一座城市 一个国家 ''That's you, a city, a country,
一幅未完成的作品 a work in progress."
画中的人物就是你们 ''This is my group portrait of all of you,
这一幅幅肖像 都是你们 a portrait of a people, a portrait of who you are,
那是曾经的你们 who you've always been. ''
以难以取悦的方式 Let the high and mighty celebrate their greatness
来庆祝他们的伟大 with fastidious etiquette.
如果需要的话 让他们向欧洲其他国家学习 Let them even copy the rest of Europe if they must.
但是伦勃朗 一个破产者 也曾经不可一世 但他却是荷兰的良心 But Rembrandt, the bankrupt, the has-been, was their patriotic conscience..
他说道 在流行中 你早晚会窒息而死 ''Smother yourself in fashion at your peril,'' he was saying.
这些才是真实的你 粗野但诚实 ''These are your flesh and blood, rough and honest,
是你们的野蛮先辈建立了荷兰 your barbarian ancestry. They made you Dutch,
所以放下你的尴尬不安去拥抱他们吧 赞誉他们吧 so banish your embarrassment, embrace them, honour them."
因为你们认为重要的事情其实都不重要 ''For everything that you think matters, doesn't."
这座宏伟的大理石市政厅明天可能会归为尘埃 ''The town hall, with all its acres of marble, could go tomorrow."
阿姆斯特丹也可能会沉入海底 ''Amsterdam can sink back into the sea again."
只要拥有粗犷的自由 荷兰就能永存不朽 ''As long as you have your rough freedom, you have all you need to stay Dutch. ''
所以伦勃朗并不是按照规则创作的 So of course Rembrandt's not gonna paint by the rule book.
相反 他的历史题材的作品都是曾经最粗糙艰难的 Instead, he does the roughest, toughest history painting ever.
他就像一只通过绘画发出吼声的年老雄狮 An old lion's roar of a picture.
他有按要求创作这幅作品的全部动机 He had every incentive to paint it straight,
但是他内心深处却有些东西阻止他这样做 but something in him just wouldn't do it.
正是这些东西推动着艺术的发展进步 那就是对逢迎讨好的蔑视 This is what drives the very greatest art. Contempt for ingratiation.
如今伦勃朗已经通过艰苦的过程学到了这些 Now Rembrandt had learnt this the hard way,
当年轻无知的小子们鄙视他的作品 when the callow hand of fashion had given him a resounding thumbs down,
当他与阿姆斯特丹富人阶层的关系变了味 and when his relationship with the rich of Amsterdam had turned sour,
他的幻想与财富都被剥夺了 and he'd been stripped, not just of his fortune, but of his illusions.
投其所好已经不在他的考虑之中了 Giving them what they wanted was now beside the point.
投其所需才是他的想法 Giving them what they needed was more like it
但是他们却不欣赏 所以难怪伦勃朗会损毁自己的作品了 But they refused to look and that's why he cut up his masterpiece.
伦勃朗最后创作的一批作品中有一幅 One of the very last pictures Rembrandt painted
牧师西门被女先知安娜带到圣子身旁 was Simeon the priest being brought the Christ child by the prophetess Anna.
圣子的面部发出一团温暖柔和的光芒 Out of the face of the Christ child pours a soft, brimming radiance
老人的眼睛闭着 脸部笼罩在光芒之中 which falls on the face of the old man, who, with his eyes closed,
最终他理解了 事实上他是看到了这团光芒 understands at last he has, in fact, seen the light.
唉 但是伦勃朗的资助人却没有看到 Rembrandt's patrons, alas, did not.
这幅画是伦勃朗死后的在房子里找到的作品之一 The painting was one of those found in Rembrandt's house when he died
当时是1669年10月2 on October 2, 1669.
人们通常认为这是一幅尚未完成的作品 It's always been thought of as unfinished.
在这间昏暗的小屋里 Somewhere in that dim little house was another painting the world thought of
人们又发现了一幅“未完成”的被作者损毁的作品 as shockingly unfinished, a mutilated stump of a picture.
这也许是绘画史上最令人辛酸的一刻了 This just may be the most heartbreaking fragment in the entire history of painting.
这是因为你能看出来它他好像什么也不是 不是吗 And just because you can see, can't you, that it looks nothing,
也就是个老头子罢了 nothing whatsoever like an old master,
它被人从墙上跳下来 that it leaps from the decorum of the gallery wall
然后来到了另一个世界 into some other world of eloquence.
伦勃朗画笔下的Claudius Civilis使我们明白了 Rembrandt's Claudius Civilis tells us that the very greatest painting
优秀的作品是不会随着时间和人们的喜好改变的 isn't bound by time or taste.
他就像个发出提醒的人 每当我们需要的时候他就会出现 A reminder, if ever we should need it,
虽然很多时候他的面目不怎么好看 that eloquence doesn't always come with a pretty face.