Notice: This post is accompanied by a Facebook Reel in the hyperlink below.
Full English translation below for international followers
To celebrate West Philippine Sea Victory Day, I want to share an artwork that will give us even more motivation to protect our territorial waters.
The title of this work is The Shell, and it was made in 1650. It can now be seen at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The shell depicted here is a Conus marmoreus, or marbled cone shell, a type of sea snail found in the coral waters of the Indo-Pacific Region.
It was made by Rembrandt van Rijn.
Rembrandt was one of the most famous Dutch artists of the seventeenth century. He is known for his portraits, biblical scenes, and dramatic use of light and shadow. He was also an accomplished printmaker.
Art historians believe that the specimen Rembrandt used as his model came directly from the waters of the Philippines before it was brought to the Netherlands.
Let’s look closer.
It is different from drawings of scientific specimens, which are usually depicted from the top or side, and from a strictly vertical or horizontal perspective.
There are no other objects around it. No flowers, fruit, or jewelry. Just the shell.
Because of the light, shadow, and highly detailed pattern, it looks like a portrait. The shell emerges from the darkness, like the faces and figures we see in Rembrandt’s works.
Even though it is simple and small, it is an important work because it is Rembrandt’s only still-life print. Among the many portraits, biblical scenes, and landscapes he created, a shell from the Philippines became the subject of his only still-life print.
Imagine the journey of this shell.
From the waters of the Philippines, it became a luxury object in Europe, entered a curiosity cabinet, and eventually became an artwork by Rembrandt.
So the next time you visit a museum, look carefully and do not take a selfie right away.
Move closer. Look at the details. Ask where the subject came from and how it was made.
Because sometimes, in one small shell, we can see the Philippines in the global history of art.
Further reading
For the shell being identified as being harvested in the waters around the Philippines see, Blaise Ducos, Lara Yeager-Crasselt, and Olivia Savatier Sjöholm, Rembrandt, Vermeer et le siècle d’or hollandais (Art Book Magazine Éditions/ Louvre Museum, 2019), 34.
Another source in that regard: Hinterding, Ger Luijten, and Martin Royalton-Kisch, Rembrandt the Printmaker (London: British Museum Press, 2000), 242–45.
For a sample of the Conus Marmoreus identified as coming from the Philippines: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, “Conus marmoreus,” specimen record from Manay, Davao Oriental, Mindanao, Philippines; World Register of Marine Species, “Conus marmoreus Linnaeus, 1758.”