Symbolic Landscape
Exploring the Semiotics of Landscape in Rembrandt's "Three Trees"
Detail #1
This detail, located at the far left of the composition, depicts an old man and woman fishing beside still water, a common pastime in the Dutch pastoral life. Here, Rembrandt is strongly contrasting the dynamism of the tempestuous storm with the banality of daily life, all in the realm of a quintessentially Dutch world.
Detail #2
Farmers and herdsmen work in an open field in the background of the composition, a common motif found through Rembrandt's landscapes. This detail exemplifies the Dutch people's close relationship with their terrain, controlled by the volatile weather that dominates the subject of the work.
Detail #3
This detail of an artist sketching atop a hill towards the right of the composition suggests a form of meta-commentary regarding man and nature, specifically, the artist and landscape. Here, Rembrandt contemplates or nods to his own ability to resurrect nature through etching and drypoint. The figure pictured here, however, is sketching something outside the pictorial space, further adding a sense whimsical mysteriousness that pervades throughout.
Detail #4
Executed in drypoint, this detail, very hard to discern but located in the bottom right foreground of the composition, depicts two lovers hidden in the dense leaves of the underbrush. This dynamic and lively human presence, implemented most uniquely in this detail, fully complicates the line between man and nature, underscoring a close tie between the two otherwise implicit in the other details.