Uncle Phil - Rembrandt Van Rijn

No-one ever painted skin like Rembrandt van Rijn

He came out of Leiden with a new bag of tricks
Like Caravaggio, with a little less to hide
They didn't see him coming, just a paintboy from the sticks
But he blew a hole in Amsterdam a mile wide

Amsterdam had seen so many starry names
De Keyser, Pieter Lastman, Ketel, Savery
They'd seen it all before, a dozen artists' claims
But nothing like his skin, his fizz, his bravery

No-one ever painted skin like Rembrandt van Rijn
The undisputed greatest of his time
No-one ever painted skin like Rembrandt van Rijn
He raised the humble human to sublime

He painted all the great and he painted all the good
He painted other folks without a name
He painted onto canvas and he painted onto wood
And he always left their soul there in the frame

He scumbled and he splattered, he wielded brush and knife
The dazzle of his surfaces beguiled
He painted scenes of legend, and he painted scenes of life
His painting drove the local burgers wild

No-one ever painted skin like Rembrandt van Rijn
They paddled their canoes up to his door
No-one ever painted skin like Rembrandt van Rijn
They paddled home and then came back for more

He used bone black, lead white, charcoal black, lead-tin yellow, lamp black and azurite
Vandyke brown, madder lake, yellow lake, vermillion, and with just these he captured life and light

No-one ever painted skin like Rembrandt van Rijn

He saves you from the depths of sin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
His paint was bold, seldom thin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
He painted light, worn like a skin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
He'd paint the skin you're sitting in (Rembrandt van Rijn)
His paint could make a life begin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
He took misfortune on the chin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
He liked to sip Jenever gin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
His self-portraits make me grin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
To him you will find no-one akin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
Light and shade to make you spin (Rembrandt van Rijn)
His paint revealed the soul within (Rembrandt van Rijn)

No-one ever painted skin like Rembrandt van Rijn

Written by:
Phil Gray

Publisher:
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