11. Thomas Worlidge's Claim to Fame
An Approach to Rembrandt’s printed Tronies in 18th-Century England
Rebecca Welkens
Thomas Worlidge (1700-1766) was one of the most well-known portrait painters and etchers in England in the 18th century [1]. He produced a large number of prints, most of them etchings and many of them depicting tronies. During his lifetime, Worlidge was honoured by his contemporaries as the ‘English Rembrandt’, although he was not known as such from the beginning of his career.1 Worlidge earned this title when, in the 1750s, he began to engage artistically with prints by Rembrandt (1606/7-1669). He copied some of Rembrandt’s prints but most of his works were his own creations, in which he either partially adapted, or supposedly let himself be inspired by Rembrandt’s artworks [2]. Not only do the motifs, especially the costumes, recur in Worlidge’s art, but he also worked intensively with Rembrandt’s etching techniques and attempted to emulate Rembrandt’s early etching style.
This article examines the extent to which Thomas Worlidge’s preoccupation with Rembrandt’s prints helped him to establish himself as an artist and to enhance his own reputation, particularly through the popular tronie prints. The article also explores how Worlidge’s interest in Rembrandt contributed to the expansion of the Rembrandt hype in England, which had just begun in the early 18th century.2
1
Thomas Worlidge
Self portrait of Thomas Worlidge, dated 1754
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-1953-787
2
Thomas Worlidge after Rembrandt
Self-portrait of Rembrandt in a cap and scarf with the face dark, c. 1758
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv./cat.nr. RP-P-1957-300
Notes
1 Gilpin 1768, p. 119.
2 The article is based on research for my PhD-thesis, Die Tronie in der Druckgraphik. Funktionen, Rezeptionen und Vermarktungen vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert ausgehend von Pieter Bruegel d. Ä., Jan Lievens und Rembrandt, which has been submitted at the University of Bamberg, Germany in April 2023.