18|AULA cd Rembrandt: The light that illuminates the actual record of time With the intention of constructing other points of view about the Church and its lighting, we would like to bring up some observations on two of the art works of Rembrandt: Estudio de un anciano con una cadena de oro y El apóstol Pedro. We are interested in certain common characteristics of the subjects portrayed and in the way light impacts on the composition; from the placement in the picture of that which is being illuminated as well as from the effect achieved by the work of contrasts. In both pictures, light favors the perception of some parts. Even though they are portraits, the ease in which the body of the subjects could get lost in the background hints that what is being conveyed is not in the people represented but in their features. This is accentuated by the coincidence of the more illuminated elements with the vertical axis of the canvas. Thus, we understand that the intention is not to see everything, but what is supposed to be seen is to be perceived with immediacy. On second viewing, we realize that what is being highlighted in the composition is not the faces: it is the skin and the gaze. When perceiving the work of art, facial hair mitigates the contrast of the face with the background, even with the rest of the body. It stay suspended, it stands out from the background with the fragmented clarity of echoes that reverberate in a void. Just as we regularly perceive the cycles of the moon through the partial reflection of the sun, or the unfolding of the day through the revolutions of shadows over the bodies, so we see how the faces are more illuminated on one hemisphere than the other. The memory of that mercurial cyclical movement, contrasts delicately with the stillness of the subjects. Even with the weight of their posture and the features of their bodies. However, the contour of the face disappears from the cheekbones down. The gaze and the skin stand out from that fog. Against the diffused elements of the composition, the eyes offer a moment of recognition and communion. We understand they are people and we look at each other. Against the strength of the gaze, the skin looks filamentous, like a textile register, which plots with its signs the story of everything that is exposed to time and decomposition. The same observations can be made about the role of light in the perception of these paintings: light in the organization of space, contrasts and the appearance of suspended gravity, and in the illumination of the surfaces exposed to weathering. The relationship between light and structure seems lineal. The luminaries are placed in every column and buttress along the central axis, culminating at the limit between the apses and the ambulatory. However, at a distance we realize that this apparent linearity does not match the effect created by the lighting in the space. It could be erroneously inferred that by matching concepts such as light and structure there is the intention of reinforcing an image of rigidity by emphasizing the path where the mechanical actions meet the ground; but the partiality of the light projected on these elements reveals that the senses perceive the contrary. In the first place, just as in Rembrandt’s pictures, we could say that the position of the light sources give an immediate, though primary notion, of the organization of the space, but right away we realize that the light is not projected from the base of the columns. The support of the luminaries is located barely above the height of a person. As we said, it gives an idea of order, but also a darker base. This protects the gaze of the visitors walking those spaces after dark, shielding them from the glare of the light sources and from becoming disoriented by darkness. However, after capturing the totality of the space, we notice that this base also goes against that first image of rigidity. Actually, the effect is diametrically opposed. As in the pictures, the contrast between the source of light and the darkness of the base creates an effect of momentary suspension. The path in which mechanical actions would normally meet the ground ends in a spot where this rationale turns obsolete. Gravity is challenged by those blocks in addition to the weight of the time that has passed through the place. The proximity at which the luminaries are placed invites a closer look of the stone. Here, again, we find that textile property in the way the surfaces are revealed. The warp of the block follows the weft of the seams shaping the limit between void and matter. There is an order. Not from nature but from technique, from culture, from the knowledge that empowers men to shape the surroundings where he lives. On this human order we see another type of