Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer is an oil-on-canvas painting by Rembrandt van Rijn. It was painted in 1653, as a commission from Don Antonio Ruffo, from Messina in Sicily, who did not request a particular subject.
Aristotle, world-weary, looks at the bust of blind, humble Homer, on which he rests one of his hands. This has variously been interpreted as the man of sound, methodical science deferring to Art, or as the wealthy and famous philosopher, wearing the jeweled belt given to him by Alexander the Great, envying the life of the poor blind bard. It has also been suggested that this is Rembrandt's commentary on the power of portraiture.
The interpretation of methodical science deferring to art is discussed at length in in which Held notes that Aristotle's right hand, traditionally the favored hand, is on the bust of Homer, is higher, and painted lighter than the left hand on the gold chain given to him by Alexander.
It was purchased in 1961 for $2.3 million by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, USA. At the time this was the highest amount ever paid for any picture at public or private sale.
The painting forms the central theme of Joseph Heller's 1988 novel Picture This.
Famous quotes containing the words bust and/or homer:
“Workers of the world forgive me.”
—Graffito on the bust of Karl Marx in Bucharest. Quoted in Times (London, May 4, 1990)
“But it is fit that the Past should be dark; though the darkness is not so much a quality of the past as of tradition. It is not a distance of time, but a distance of relation, which makes thus dusky its memorials. What is near to the heart of this generation is fair and bright still. Greece lies outspread fair and sunshiny in floods of light, for there is the sun and daylight in her literature and art. Homer does not allow us to forget that the sun shone,—nor Phidias, nor the Parthenon.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)