Copyright by Laura Mareike Sager 2006 - The University of Texas at ...

public image in this self portrait. But whereas the preceding interpretation of this
image was based on the connection of the self portrait to language (the Solomon
quotation), this interpretive ekphrasis is presented entirely in images which
contradict or modify the previous one. In a concretization of Zuckmayer’s
screenplay, then, the verbal ekphrasis competes with the visual one, which has the
last word, so to speak, and moreover also serves to expose “Rembrandt’s” agenda
of public identity construction though his self portraits. At the end of the
screenplay, then, the visual thus not only subverts the verbal ekphrasis, but also
becomes independent of its creator.
As throughout the realization of the screenplay, Korda takes up
Zuckmayer’s cues but intensifies them. By setting the visual and the verbal
against each other simultaneously, the film enacts a more direct, immediate
confrontation between the two, thereby heightening the tension. Similar to
Zuckmayer, Korda’s film interprets the Cologne self portrait as Self Portrait as
laughing Democritus by implying a connection between Democritus and
Solomon. Like Democritus’ teachings, the Solomon lines that “Rembrandt”
quotes in the text and film emphasize the need for peace with oneself and the
world, for finding happiness and serenity in oneself rather than external, material
goods. But unlike Zuckmayer, Korda uses the Solomon quotation, spoken by
“Rembrandt’s” mirror image as he paints himself, like a verbalization of the self
portrait interpreted as Self Portrait as Laughing Democritus. In other words,
“Rembrandt’s” words while painting himself, constitute a verbal ekphrasis of that
process of painting which we see in the mirror. However, this visual mise-en-
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