2019 marks the 350th anniversary of the death of Rembrandt van Rijn. This, the fourth volume in the Frick Diptych series, offers fresh insight into one of Rembrandt's most romantic and enigmatic portraits, which has inspired many theories about its subject, meaning and history. If the Polish Rider is indeed a portrait, it certainly breaks with tradition. Equestrian portraits were not common in seventeenth-century Dutch art, and in such portraits, riders were usually fashionably dressed and their horses were well-bred. An illuminating essay by Xavier F. Salomon addresses the many questions of provenance, attribution and of who this mysterious rider might be.
In a creative, vibrant piece, New York based author and illustrator Maira Kalman, captures the elusive nature of the painting, musing about Rembrandt, being Polish, and a traveller, and her enduring fascination with the Frick.
Designed to foster critical engagement and interest the specialist and non-specialist alike, each book in the Frick Diptych series illuminates a single work in the Frick's rich collection with an essay by a Frick curator paired with a contribution from a contemporary artist or writer.