Raymond Chandler & Rembrandt
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
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| Rembrandt - 1660 - The Louvre |
They had Rembrandt on the calendar that year, a rather
smeary self-portrait due to imperfectly registered colour plates. It showed him
holding a smeared palette with a dirty thumb and wearing a tam o’shanter which
wasn’t any too clean either. His other hand held a brush poised in the air, as
if he might be going to do a little work after a while, if somebody did the
down payment. His face was ageing, saggy, full of the disgust of life and the
thickening effects of liquor. But it had a hard cheerfulness that I liked, and
they eyes were as bright as drops of dew.
I was looking at him across my office desk at about
four-thirty when the phone rang and I heard a cool supercilious voice that
sounded as if I thought it was pretty good. It said drawlingly, after I had
answered:
‘You are Philip Marlowe, a private detective?’…
He hung up and that was that. I thought Mr. Rembrandt had
a faint sneer on his face. I got the office bottle out of the deep drawer of
the desk and took a short drink. That took the sneer out of Mr. Rembrandt in a
hurry.
Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler
American Noir & Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler - Just About Perfect
American Noir & Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler - Just About Perfect
