The Three Trees (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1643, intaglio print)
It is Rembrandt’s birthday again—happy birthday to the great artist! Last year we looked at an enigmatic painting by the great Dutch master which could have represented several different mythological/historical scenes. This year instead of celebrating with one of his astonishing paintings of people, we turn instead to an intaglio print which Rembrandt made by combining etching, drypoint, and direct hand manipulation of the printer’s ink. Uncharacteristically, humankind is not the direct subject of the print (although if you enlarge the image, you will discover both a fisherman plying his luck at the river and a yokel loitering in the fields). Three monumental trees loom over the flat Dutch landscape—but their symbolism, if any, is not overt. A bustling city sprawls in the background, but it too is not the focal point on the composition. The real subject is the darkling sky which roils with strange clouds, abstruse turbulence, and glorious patches of sunlight. The world changes with astonishing speed: the mutable clouds are the most direct manifestation of the ever shifting nature of reality, yet the country dwellers, cows, city, and even the long-lived trees all seem to partake of the same impermanence.
ferrebeekeeper 
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July 16, 2014 at 12:07 AM
AManCalledDada
The trees could be the three graces, overgrown and neglected. Or the three wise men, turned into trees and forgotten. There also looks to be some textural activity in the trees themselves that may have Masonic symbolism (All Seeing Eye, etc.). Few realize that Rembrandt was also a Freemason — and more.
http://newtopiamagazine.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/7-keys-to-rembrandts-secret/
July 22, 2014 at 4:47 PM
Wayne
Wow–thanks for the theories! I can certainly see the Christian symbolism and I like the idea about the three graces. I never thought that Rembrandt was a freemason!
July 16, 2014 at 12:20 AM
AManCalledDada
Should have mentioned that Freemasons used to sign their names with three dots at the end of their signature, so the trees could be the Freemasonic god’s signature. Note that Da-da did not say, “God.” Secret societies are such a silly mixed-up can of philosophical worms, full of sound and fury…
July 16, 2014 at 9:15 PM
monarda
There may well have been occult symbolism (or just plain regular religious symbolism) in Rembrandt’s work. There certainly was such symbolism in Dutch still life paintings, which are generally memento moris.
I believe that in Dutch landscape representation intended to suggest the presence of God in the landscape, and therefore it is not unreasonable to consider the trees as possibly suggesting the Christian Trinity. But organized Freemasonry didn’t begin until the early 18th c. after Rembrandt had died, so he couldn’t have been a Mason.