Biography Category
Name :
Rembrandt
Date :
Views :
600
Category :
Birth Date :
05/07/1606
Birth Place :
Leiden, Holland.
Death Date :
1669
October 4
Not Available
[b]Roots[/b][br /]
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Contrary to popular belief, Rembrandt did not live a life of poverty or in squalor. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, the Dutch Baroque artist, was born on July 15, 1606, in Leiden, Holland, to Gerristz van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdr. His father owned a mill and his mother was the daughter of a baker. This means, that like most Dutch artists, Rembrandt also came from the lower middle class. His father, who thought that Rembrandt was the most gifted of his nine children, wanted him to follow a scholastic profession. The historical situation and circumstances that one finds oneself in, condition the scope and direction of each individual, even great ones. The time that he was born in was a peaceful period in Dutch history and a time of cultural growth. Rembrandt’s generation was squeezed between that of the vigor and self-assurance of the generation of Frans Hals and the quiet refinement of the generation of Jan Vermeer. What distinguishes him from hiscontemporaries is the subjectivity and spirituality of his art.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b] Biblical Inspirations [/b] [br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The recurrence of subjects from Ovid’s MetaMorphoses in his early work and his interest in Biblical subjects are probably an influence of his early education at the Latin School in Leyden that he entered at around the age of seven. On May 20, 1620, he was enrolled into the University at Leyden. After a few months at the University, his parents realized that his inclination towards painting was too strong to be ignored. At the age of fifteen, in 1621, he became an apprentice to Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburgh. It was here that he learnt the fundamentals of etching, a skill that never ceased to fascinate him. It seems that he did not learn much except the elementary techniques of drawing here. What played an important role in his development as an artist were the six months that he spent at the studio of Pieter Lastman in[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Amsterdam, Lastman made an enduring impression on him. Indeed, it was Lastman who kindled his ambition to compose Biblical and historical paintings. Their relationship as student and teacher was very fruitful. Rembrandt’s extraordinary genius was enhanced by his teacher’s robust personality. It was his teacher’s firm instruction that provided him with the solid foundation to be able to scale the lofty heights that he aspired to. Lastman himself was a student of one of the leading painters in Holland, Cornelis Cornelisz van Harlem. He had also lived and worked in Rome, where he probably came in contact with Caravaggio and met Elsheimer. On his return to Holland, he had invented a new kind of historical painting that had Biblical subjects and also subjects from classical mythology. These works, with the realistic quality of their narrative power and vividness of dramatic animation impressed his countrymen. Rembrandt was greatly impressed by his teacher’s work but he outdid him. His intensity of expression and subtlety in tonal gradation shows his superiority. It is believed that after spending six months with Lastman, he also studied for a while with Jan Pynas.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Not yet twenty, he set up his studio in Leiden on Lastman’s encouragement. Italian artists, especially Caravaggio, influenced him. He was barely twenty-two when he became established as an artist and began teaching, something he continued to do throughout his life.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Early Prosperity[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
By 1631, he had become well known and his studio was flourishing. He then moved to Amsterdam, obviously induced by the advantages that the capital city had to offer artists. His opportunities would widen there. He lived with his art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh in the Saint–Antoine– Breestrat. The dramatic vividness and forceful illusionism of his first large scale group portrait the Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp established his reputation as a portrait painter. He received many commissions for portraits and for paintings of religious subjects.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Saskia's Influence[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
He had become prosperous and lived the life of a wealthy and respected citizen. He married the beautiful Saskia van Uylenburgh, niece of Hendrick, in 1634. Simultaneously with his professional success, Rembrandt enjoyed a rapid rise in his social position through his marriage to Saskia. Saskia brought with her a substantial fortune and, as a member of a patrician family, she was able to help Rembrandt in extending his contacts in Amsterdam's wealthy circles. He gained both fame and fortune. His paintings were in great demand and he was able to ask the highest prices from his patrons, and he had many students who had to pay dearly for the privelege of his instruction. He was an extravagant man and indulged himself impulsively. He collected objects of art and other curiosities.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Baldinucci describes Rembrandt's activity as a collector, and his extravagance as follows; "He often went to public sales by auction; and he he acquired clothes that were old-fashioned and disused as long as they struck him as bizarre and picturesque, and those, even though at times they were downright dirty, he hung on the walls of his studio among the beautiful curiosities which he also took pleasure in possessing, such as every kind of old and modern arms - arrows, halberds, daggers, sabers, knives and so on - and innumerable quantities of drawings, engravings and medals and every other thing which he thought a painter might ever need." Baldinucci goes on to describe Rembrandt's rather provocative conduct at such public auctions, where he "bid so high at the outset that no one else came forward to bid; and he said that he did this in order to emphasize the prestige of his profession."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt's possessions accumulated over the years and in 1639, he bought a large house in the Joden-Breestrat that he could ill-afford. This was an undertaking which strained his resources and contributed to his financial collapse.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
His wife, whom he idolized, appeared in many paintings. She appears in many of his historical and Biblical paintings as an ideal of womanhood as he understood it. It has been said that his wife was not a good influence on him, that she encouraged his extravagance and was responsible for his ostentatious behavior. His violent temperament that came to the fore during these years, went a long way in unfolding the layers of his dynamic personality. Had this not happened, the emotional upheaval of his middle years would not have been so sharp as it was and would not have produced the depth of feeling in him that he did.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Tragedy: A Change Of Perspective [/b] [br /]
[br /]
[br /]
In 1640, his mother died. This was the beginning of the series of tragic events that were to change his view of life and also his artistic outlook. In 1642, after a year of deteriorating health following the birth of a child named Titus, his wife Saskia died. Three children who had been born in the preceding years, had died in infancy, making Titus their only surviving child. [br /]
[br /]
[br /]
His fortunes were now falling. His reputation as the best portrait painter of Amsterdam was declining and his financial condition was also strained. He withdrew himself and his work became more realistic and sober. His eye became more penetrating and his vision broadened. It was as if his suffering had a purifying effect on his human outlook. These altered values are reflected in his work. He grew extremely fond of his son Titus, who appears in many of his paintings, sometimes as Tobias, as Daniel or as the young Christ.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]True Artist[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The events of his life, in his late years, took a final, disastrous course. He had to ask the government to grant him a cession bonorum, in order to avoid bankruptcy in 1656. Following Saskia’s death he had an affair with Geertje Dircx, who was Titus’ nursemaid. The affair ended in a breach of promise case. After this, he found companionship in Hendrickje Stoffels, who had joined his household as a maidservant. It was her simple warm-heartedness that drew him to her. It was she and his son Titus who took him on as an employee in their art dealing business to save him more trouble. Even after all these tragic events, he went on producing the best of art works. In 1663, his beloved Hendrickje died. All these things contribute to the somber undertone of his later works. He died in 1669 and was buried in the Westerkerk. He remains today, in the words of the Dutch painter Jozef Isreals, "the true type of artist, free, untrammeled by traditions".[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Contrary to popular belief, Rembrandt did not live a life of poverty or in squalor. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, the Dutch Baroque artist, was born on July 15, 1606, in Leiden, Holland, to Gerristz van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdr. His father owned a mill and his mother was the daughter of a baker. This means, that like most Dutch artists, Rembrandt also came from the lower middle class. His father, who thought that Rembrandt was the most gifted of his nine children, wanted him to follow a scholastic profession. The historical situation and circumstances that one finds oneself in, condition the scope and direction of each individual, even great ones. The time that he was born in was a peaceful period in Dutch history and a time of cultural growth. Rembrandt’s generation was squeezed between that of the vigor and self-assurance of the generation of Frans Hals and the quiet refinement of the generation of Jan Vermeer. What distinguishes him from hiscontemporaries is the subjectivity and spirituality of his art.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b] Biblical Inspirations [/b] [br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The recurrence of subjects from Ovid’s MetaMorphoses in his early work and his interest in Biblical subjects are probably an influence of his early education at the Latin School in Leyden that he entered at around the age of seven. On May 20, 1620, he was enrolled into the University at Leyden. After a few months at the University, his parents realized that his inclination towards painting was too strong to be ignored. At the age of fifteen, in 1621, he became an apprentice to Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburgh. It was here that he learnt the fundamentals of etching, a skill that never ceased to fascinate him. It seems that he did not learn much except the elementary techniques of drawing here. What played an important role in his development as an artist were the six months that he spent at the studio of Pieter Lastman in[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Amsterdam, Lastman made an enduring impression on him. Indeed, it was Lastman who kindled his ambition to compose Biblical and historical paintings. Their relationship as student and teacher was very fruitful. Rembrandt’s extraordinary genius was enhanced by his teacher’s robust personality. It was his teacher’s firm instruction that provided him with the solid foundation to be able to scale the lofty heights that he aspired to. Lastman himself was a student of one of the leading painters in Holland, Cornelis Cornelisz van Harlem. He had also lived and worked in Rome, where he probably came in contact with Caravaggio and met Elsheimer. On his return to Holland, he had invented a new kind of historical painting that had Biblical subjects and also subjects from classical mythology. These works, with the realistic quality of their narrative power and vividness of dramatic animation impressed his countrymen. Rembrandt was greatly impressed by his teacher’s work but he outdid him. His intensity of expression and subtlety in tonal gradation shows his superiority. It is believed that after spending six months with Lastman, he also studied for a while with Jan Pynas.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Not yet twenty, he set up his studio in Leiden on Lastman’s encouragement. Italian artists, especially Caravaggio, influenced him. He was barely twenty-two when he became established as an artist and began teaching, something he continued to do throughout his life.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Early Prosperity[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
By 1631, he had become well known and his studio was flourishing. He then moved to Amsterdam, obviously induced by the advantages that the capital city had to offer artists. His opportunities would widen there. He lived with his art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh in the Saint–Antoine– Breestrat. The dramatic vividness and forceful illusionism of his first large scale group portrait the Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp established his reputation as a portrait painter. He received many commissions for portraits and for paintings of religious subjects.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Saskia's Influence[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
He had become prosperous and lived the life of a wealthy and respected citizen. He married the beautiful Saskia van Uylenburgh, niece of Hendrick, in 1634. Simultaneously with his professional success, Rembrandt enjoyed a rapid rise in his social position through his marriage to Saskia. Saskia brought with her a substantial fortune and, as a member of a patrician family, she was able to help Rembrandt in extending his contacts in Amsterdam's wealthy circles. He gained both fame and fortune. His paintings were in great demand and he was able to ask the highest prices from his patrons, and he had many students who had to pay dearly for the privelege of his instruction. He was an extravagant man and indulged himself impulsively. He collected objects of art and other curiosities.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Baldinucci describes Rembrandt's activity as a collector, and his extravagance as follows; "He often went to public sales by auction; and he he acquired clothes that were old-fashioned and disused as long as they struck him as bizarre and picturesque, and those, even though at times they were downright dirty, he hung on the walls of his studio among the beautiful curiosities which he also took pleasure in possessing, such as every kind of old and modern arms - arrows, halberds, daggers, sabers, knives and so on - and innumerable quantities of drawings, engravings and medals and every other thing which he thought a painter might ever need." Baldinucci goes on to describe Rembrandt's rather provocative conduct at such public auctions, where he "bid so high at the outset that no one else came forward to bid; and he said that he did this in order to emphasize the prestige of his profession."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt's possessions accumulated over the years and in 1639, he bought a large house in the Joden-Breestrat that he could ill-afford. This was an undertaking which strained his resources and contributed to his financial collapse.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
His wife, whom he idolized, appeared in many paintings. She appears in many of his historical and Biblical paintings as an ideal of womanhood as he understood it. It has been said that his wife was not a good influence on him, that she encouraged his extravagance and was responsible for his ostentatious behavior. His violent temperament that came to the fore during these years, went a long way in unfolding the layers of his dynamic personality. Had this not happened, the emotional upheaval of his middle years would not have been so sharp as it was and would not have produced the depth of feeling in him that he did.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Tragedy: A Change Of Perspective [/b] [br /]
[br /]
[br /]
In 1640, his mother died. This was the beginning of the series of tragic events that were to change his view of life and also his artistic outlook. In 1642, after a year of deteriorating health following the birth of a child named Titus, his wife Saskia died. Three children who had been born in the preceding years, had died in infancy, making Titus their only surviving child. [br /]
[br /]
[br /]
His fortunes were now falling. His reputation as the best portrait painter of Amsterdam was declining and his financial condition was also strained. He withdrew himself and his work became more realistic and sober. His eye became more penetrating and his vision broadened. It was as if his suffering had a purifying effect on his human outlook. These altered values are reflected in his work. He grew extremely fond of his son Titus, who appears in many of his paintings, sometimes as Tobias, as Daniel or as the young Christ.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]True Artist[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The events of his life, in his late years, took a final, disastrous course. He had to ask the government to grant him a cession bonorum, in order to avoid bankruptcy in 1656. Following Saskia’s death he had an affair with Geertje Dircx, who was Titus’ nursemaid. The affair ended in a breach of promise case. After this, he found companionship in Hendrickje Stoffels, who had joined his household as a maidservant. It was her simple warm-heartedness that drew him to her. It was she and his son Titus who took him on as an employee in their art dealing business to save him more trouble. Even after all these tragic events, he went on producing the best of art works. In 1663, his beloved Hendrickje died. All these things contribute to the somber undertone of his later works. He died in 1669 and was buried in the Westerkerk. He remains today, in the words of the Dutch painter Jozef Isreals, "the true type of artist, free, untrammeled by traditions".[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]REMBRANDT HARMENSZ VAN RIJN [ 1606 – 1669 ][/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
From his humble origins as a miller’s son to one of the most famous Dutch artists, Rembrandt’s life was a dramatic sequence of success and disaster. The Baroque artist was one among the rare breed of artists who were well known even during their own time. He garnered fame and recognition for his portraits, landscapes and drawings as well as etchings. His everlasting bond for his passion was established from a very early age; he had fallen in love with art when he was very young. He was extremely passionate about it – both in collecting and creating it. It was the extravagance of this master of light and shadow, in collecting works of art, that eventually led to his bankruptcy. Over the years, this artist, with a keen sense of introspection, has come to acquire the garb of a Romantic hero – a man who followed his own inner light. Rembrandt captured the imagination of people in a manner that is probably unparalleled in the history of art. He remains to this day, the master best loved by connoisseurs and lovers of art everywhere in the world.
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
From his humble origins as a miller’s son to one of the most famous Dutch artists, Rembrandt’s life was a dramatic sequence of success and disaster. The Baroque artist was one among the rare breed of artists who were well known even during their own time. He garnered fame and recognition for his portraits, landscapes and drawings as well as etchings. His everlasting bond for his passion was established from a very early age; he had fallen in love with art when he was very young. He was extremely passionate about it – both in collecting and creating it. It was the extravagance of this master of light and shadow, in collecting works of art, that eventually led to his bankruptcy. Over the years, this artist, with a keen sense of introspection, has come to acquire the garb of a Romantic hero – a man who followed his own inner light. Rembrandt captured the imagination of people in a manner that is probably unparalleled in the history of art. He remains to this day, the master best loved by connoisseurs and lovers of art everywhere in the world.
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• JULY 5, 1606
Rembrandt was born, in Leiden, Holland.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1620 Enrolled into the University of Leiden, which he left to be apprenticed under Jacob Isaakszoon van Swanburgh who was a popular artist.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1623-24 Continued his education in painting by joining the studio of Peter Lastman in Amsterdam. He probably worked with the painter Jacob Pynas for sometime, after he left the studio of Lastman.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1624-25 Began his career as a studio artist in Leiden. He shared the studio with Jan Lievens who became a friend and was beside him for the rest of his life. Started making etchings. [br /]
[br /]
• 1627-28 He began to teach students though he was just twenty-two.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1628-29
Painted The Risen Christ at Emmaus. His father died. Produced numerous etchings. Painted Jeremiah Mourning over the Destruction of Jerusalem.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1632 Moved to Amsterdam and lived with art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh. His friend Jan Lievens left for England. He accepted Jacob Adriaeszoon Backer as pupil. Painted The Young Christ in the Temple and The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• JULY 5, 1633
Betrothed to Saskia van Uylenburgh, niece of Hendrick. Began to work on a series of paintings, the Passion Series.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1633 Married Saskia van Uylenburgh.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1634 Painted Abraham’s Sacrifice.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1639 Completed the Passion Series. Purchased a house in the Saint–Antoine– Breestrat that he was unable to pay for.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1640 His mother died.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1641 Son Titus was born. Painted The Concord of the State.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1642 His wife Saskia died. Painted his most famous work Night watch.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1645 Hendrickje Stoffels, who was later to be his mistress, enters the household as maidservant.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1654 Hendrickje gave birth to a daughter, Cornelia. Painted portrait of Jan Six.
1656 He was declared bankrupt.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1657
The first sale of his property was held through Auctioneer Th. J. Haringh. Titus van Rijn became his father’s pupil and worked at his studio.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1658 The final sale of his property took place. Titus and Hendrickje started an art dealing business.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1660
His house was turned over to his creditors and he moved to Rozengracht from Amsterdam. Started working with Titus and Hendrickje. He was forced to abandon his etching press.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1663 Hendrickje Stoffels died.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1665
Titus came off age.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1667 Cosimo de Medici visited him.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1668 Titus married Magdalene van Loo, daughter of a silversmith. Titus died and was buried in the Westerkerk. Rembrandt lived with Cornelia.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1669 Titia, his granddaughter, born.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• October 4
Rembrandt died.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• October 8
Buried in an unknown rented grave in the Westerkerk.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt was born, in Leiden, Holland.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1620 Enrolled into the University of Leiden, which he left to be apprenticed under Jacob Isaakszoon van Swanburgh who was a popular artist.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1623-24 Continued his education in painting by joining the studio of Peter Lastman in Amsterdam. He probably worked with the painter Jacob Pynas for sometime, after he left the studio of Lastman.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1624-25 Began his career as a studio artist in Leiden. He shared the studio with Jan Lievens who became a friend and was beside him for the rest of his life. Started making etchings. [br /]
[br /]
• 1627-28 He began to teach students though he was just twenty-two.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1628-29
Painted The Risen Christ at Emmaus. His father died. Produced numerous etchings. Painted Jeremiah Mourning over the Destruction of Jerusalem.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1632 Moved to Amsterdam and lived with art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh. His friend Jan Lievens left for England. He accepted Jacob Adriaeszoon Backer as pupil. Painted The Young Christ in the Temple and The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• JULY 5, 1633
Betrothed to Saskia van Uylenburgh, niece of Hendrick. Began to work on a series of paintings, the Passion Series.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1633 Married Saskia van Uylenburgh.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1634 Painted Abraham’s Sacrifice.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1639 Completed the Passion Series. Purchased a house in the Saint–Antoine– Breestrat that he was unable to pay for.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1640 His mother died.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1641 Son Titus was born. Painted The Concord of the State.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1642 His wife Saskia died. Painted his most famous work Night watch.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1645 Hendrickje Stoffels, who was later to be his mistress, enters the household as maidservant.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1654 Hendrickje gave birth to a daughter, Cornelia. Painted portrait of Jan Six.
1656 He was declared bankrupt.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1657
The first sale of his property was held through Auctioneer Th. J. Haringh. Titus van Rijn became his father’s pupil and worked at his studio.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1658 The final sale of his property took place. Titus and Hendrickje started an art dealing business.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1660
His house was turned over to his creditors and he moved to Rozengracht from Amsterdam. Started working with Titus and Hendrickje. He was forced to abandon his etching press.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1663 Hendrickje Stoffels died.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1665
Titus came off age.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1667 Cosimo de Medici visited him.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1668 Titus married Magdalene van Loo, daughter of a silversmith. Titus died and was buried in the Westerkerk. Rembrandt lived with Cornelia.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• 1669 Titia, his granddaughter, born.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• October 4
Rembrandt died.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• October 8
Buried in an unknown rented grave in the Westerkerk.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Master of the Darkness and Light[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt, the Dutch master of chiaroscuro (meaning play of the light and dark in painting), has created over 600 paintings besides several etchings and drawings. When he painted, he took "Nature as the only guide." By ‘nature’ he meant the totality of life as it appeared and appealed to him. He was always opposed to the kind of theory of art that prevailed during his time, especially during the late 17th century. Joachim Von Sandrart said of him that, " he did not hesitate to oppose or contradict our rules of art, such as anatomy and the proportions of the human body, perspective and the usefulness of classical statues, Raphael’s drawings and judicious pictorial deposition, and the academies which are so particularly necessary for our professions."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Genius[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
According to him the talent of the artist depends not only on his love for art but also on his "being in love with the task of representing the charms of nature." His approach to art was more emotional than the rational and aesthetic one of his contemporaries.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
His work excelled in the selection and organization of his subject, which he says, is the first role in good composition. His deviation from the set standards of the day seems to have caused as much resentment as the respect that his formidable genius commanded.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
About one third of his paintings have Biblical subjects, most of which are dramatic, in keeping with his Baroque style. He is unusual in the atmosphere of stillness and mystery that he creates in the setting of his paintings.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]A Search Within[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The 60 odd self-portraits that he made, have probably no parallel in the history of art. There are also two etchings and about 10 drawings. He subjected himself to penetrating self-analysis and self-contemplation. If seen together, we would find very little repetition of expression and arrangement. The number of portraits shows an untiring interest in his own features and more than that he probably felt the need to know himself first in order to be able to penetrate the problem of man’s inner life. He was on a search of spiritual ascension through the path of his own personality. All his self-portraits show his immense power of expression. It is only in the self-portrait of 1669, the year of his death that this power seems to fail him and the picture that we see is that of a man who looks mild and empty as compared to his other self-portraits. His self-portraits reveal the blend of the subjective and the universal that marks his genius.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Portraits[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Besides the self-portraits, there are his single portraits and group portraits. His interest in portraiture was probably because of it being profitable. His special field of calling though was Biblical painting. There are more than 400 of these paintings, which form about two-thirds of the bulk of his work. For the most part he chose his own subjects rather than taking on commissions. He did take no commission but this meant that he was then confined to a narrower formula. He could not have the amount of freedom to work; that he allowed himself in portraying his chosen subjects. In his later years there was an increase in his power of characterization and pictorial treatment. He painted a series of portraits of his wife Saskia and also of Hendrickje.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
There aren’t many group or double portraits. Just six double portraits and one family portrait are known to be in existence.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
There are also the large-scale productions of his, the corporation portraits. His dramatic Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp caused a sensation. The much-discussed Nightwatch and The Syndics of the Drapers Guild are two of his most acclaimed works. With his landscapes, he interpreted nature as he did man in his portraiture. He followed in both, a romantic trend combined with realism.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Creative Urge[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt painted, especially the portraits, for money, but the etchings, he made to feed his creative urge and for his personal pleasure. He created during his lifetime nearly 350 etchings, of which about 220 plates are lost to us. His etchings had an international reputation even during his own lifetime. Baldinucci says about his etching –[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
"This manner was too entirely his own, neither used by others nor seen again; with certain scratches of varying strength and irregular and isolated strokes, he produced a deep chiaroscuro of great strength . . . And truth to tell in this particular branch of engraving, Rembrandt was much more highly esteemed by the professors of art than in painting, in which it seems he had exceptional luck than merit."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
In his etching, as in his painting, he went his own way. He was always experimenting and developing new techniques.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Chiaroscuro Effect[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt’s work can be classified into three periods: the early, middle and later according to the events in his life and the changes that came about in his style due to the shift in his life and way of looking at life. His early painting shows the influence of his teacher, Pieter Lastman. The strong effect of light and dark and the drama that are seen in his paintings are the legacy of Lastman. His early portraits show a preoccupation with the subject’s features. He also painted the details of clothes and furniture. The self-portraits of this period up to the 1640’s were probably studies of various emotions or of the chiaroscuro effect. His early Biblical works, in keeping with the Baroque style, were dramatic like most of the other works from this period.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The works of the middle period, that is, during the 1640’s shows a strong influence of classicism. The formal organization and the expression of inner calm in these paintings reflect the spirit of classicism that he had imbibed. His famous and highly dramatic Night Watch, more accurately, The Shooting Company of Captain Banning Cocq also shows the influence of classicism.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Lasting Impression[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
It was during the last years of his life that he created the greatest of his paintings. The heightened drama of his early work was replaced by a mellower spiritual mood. His brushwork became bolder and his palette more richly colorful. One of his finest portraits of Jan Six, in a semi abstract style, that he painted in 1654 shows his daring technical bravura. His light play became even subtler and he concentrated more on the psychological drama of the moment rather than the drama on the surface.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt’s paintings are some of the best loved in the world and rightly so. Looking at them, one feels that one is inside it, watching it with one’s own eyes. It is as if he freezes one moment in time so that we can keep on looking at it, for a moment and more…[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt is famous all over the world for his penetrating self-portraits. The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp, The Night Watch or The Shooting Company of Captain Manning Cocq and the Syndics of the Drapers Guild are some of his most famous works, along with The Return of the Prodigal Son and The Jewish Bride. And rightly so because they succeed in showing, in however fragmented a fashion, the extraordinary force of his achievement. Each of the large-scale paintings represents a landmark in his work.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Anatomy Lesson Of Doctor Tulp[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The first of his commissioned portraits, his dramatic treatment of the subject caused a sensation when it appeared. The subject was a lecture where a corpse was being dissected. The simple act of lecturing has been raised to a dramatic event by the tension that he introduces in the painting. The strongest attraction is the corpse within the circle of the group, being the area of the most intense light. The tones vary from white to black and gray to brown leaving the main effect to the chiaroscuro. The red touches on the dissected arm of the corpse, produce a startling contrast. The group is loosely arranged, with Dr. Tulp in a hat and collar speaking and the students sitting bareheaded around him. A white collar sets off their faces. The subtle variations in the attentiveness of the students are fascinating.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The two students to the doctors left aren’t very attentive. One looks outside the picture and the other looks at the doctor’s face rather than at what he’s doing. Three students directly behind the corpse look eager and are leaning forward to listen closely. The figure at the rear looks directly at the spectator as if pointing to the scene before him. The person to his right holds a paper in his hand with the names written on it and is also looking at the spectator, though not with as direct and appealing a gaze. The strong compositional, psychological and pictorial unity makes it an intensely dramatic image.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Night Watch[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The fame of this painting, created in 1642, rivals even that of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. It is a work that will always impress the world as a masterpiece of a genius. It is a masterpiece and is so probably because it was created at an age when the fount of mastery could be blended with the fire of youth. He was in his thirties when he painted this. The subject of this painting is a simple one but it is his extraordinary treatment of the subject that makes the painting the masterpiece that it is. It was his treatment of the rather ordinary subject of a burgher company marching out to a parade or a shooting contest that raises the occasion to a spectacle of unmistakable pictorial grandeur.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The moment that he has chosen to freeze in time in this particular picture is that of the call to arms when the drum sounds and the arms are being loaded hastily or shouldered and the men are on the move. The group in the painting includes more people than were in the company originally – there is a dog barking at the drummer and children running about. A boy in the middle of the crowd heightens the commotion by firing his gun. The effect achieved is that of movement, of force and of life pulsating through.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
It is his Baroque impulse that transforms a group portrait into that of an animated crowd. He has brushed aside all the static elements and come up with complexity and unification of movement.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The advancing movement of the first two officers of the guard has a dominating influence on the composition. They are figures that are strikingly realistic. The composition has a variety of movements with children darting through the crowd and heads jutting out at various levels and the men of the company leaning over to load their guns.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The background architecture gives an additional clarity to the display of movement. The impression of the Night Watch is more that of a drama of light and dark rather than being one of organized movement or of spatial order. What is responsible for the heightened dramatic effect of the Night Watch is the intensity, both of color and of chiaroscuro.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
There are many who criticize it for its lack of portrait character but from the psychological point of view Rembrandt has made no mistake in giving impetus to the general tension and agitation over the individual character. The Night Watch shows all the promise of his later years and reflects his Baroque trend, bringing it to a culmination.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Syndics[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
It is extremely difficult to do justice to this masterpiece, created twenty years after the Night Watch. The serenity that it exudes is quite unlike the extreme dramatization of the earlier picture. We cannot decide what it is about this painting that deserves our admiration. The penetrating interpretation of the characters and the sense of balance and harmony, both in composition and in color, strike us the most.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt seems to be, in this painting, completely at ease with the world and with his subjects. He has dispensed with all the fanciful treatment that he was so famous for, adhering instead to the tradition. He has achieved here a perfect solution to the preserving of the character of an individual portrait within a composition, in sync with its action. We see here a tranquility that appears but rarely in his later works. He shows here that he is able to follow the tradition without sacrificing his originality.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The exact number of works that Rembrandt created is not known but it is believed that there are around 600 of them. This is a short list of some of his works.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Self-Portraits[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
His Self–Portraits are 60 in number and painted throughout his lifetime. They can now be seen in museums around the world. Some are at the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston, some at the National gallery in Washington or the one in London and others in museums and private collections the world over.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Portraits[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1630 Old Woman Praying[br /]
1631 Old Man with a Gold chain[br /]
1631 Nicolaes Rusts[br /]
1632 Amalia van Solms[br /]
1632 Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp[br /]
1632 Marten Looten[br /]
1633 Johannes Uytenbogaert[br /]
1634 Johannes Elison [br /]
1634 Saskia as Flora [br /]
1642 The Night Watch[br /]
1662 Syndics of the Drapers Guild[br /]
1668 Laughing Self-Portrait[br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]Religious Paintings[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1625 Stoning of St. Stephen[br /]
1626 Baptism of the Eunuch[br /]
[br /]
1628 Christ at Emmaus[br /]
1628 Capture of Samson[br /]
1633 Raising of the Cross[br /]
1633 Descent from the Cross[br /]
1635 Sacrifice of Isaac[br /]
1645 Holy family with Angels[br /]
1656 Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph [br /]
1660 Peter Denying Christ[br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]History And Mythology[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1626 Palamedes Before Agamemnon[br /]
1630 Andromeda [br /]
1632 Pluto and Proserpina [br /]
1632 Rape of Europa [br /]
1653 Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer[br /]
1661 Conspiracy of Julius Civilis [br /]
1661- 63 Homer[br /]
1664 Lucretia[br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]Landscapes[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1638 Landscape with Storm[br /]
1638 Landscape with Good Samaritan[br /]
1638 Landscape with a Stone Bridge[br /]
1650 Mill [br /]
1655 Winter Landscape [br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]Genre Figures[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1626 Music Lesson [br /]
1629 Young Painter in the Studio[br /]
1655 Woman Bathing[br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]Etchings[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1632 Raising of Lazarus[br /]
1633 Descent from the Cross[br /]
1634 Annunciation to the Shepherds [br /]
1635 Johannes Uytenbogact[br /]
1636 Christ Before Pilate [br /]
1641 Skyline with Amsterdam[br /]
1641 Windmill [br /]
1643 Three Trees[br /]
1647 Jan Asselyn[br /]
1647 Ephraim Bonus[br /]
1647 Jan Six[br /]
1643-49 Christ Healing the Sick[br /]
1651 Goldweigher’s Field [br /]
1652 Christ Preaching [br /]
1653 Three Crosses[br /]
1652-54 Adoration of the Shepherds[br /]
1654 Descent from the Cross[br /]
1655 Christ Presented to the People[br /]
1657 Abraham Frances[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Drawings[/b]
1631 Seated Old Man[br /]
1631 Woman Bathing [br /]
1635 Saskia Looking out of a window [br /]
1636 Woman Carrying Child[br /]
1636 Saskia in Bed[br /]
1639 Portrait of Titia van Uylenbury[br /]
1645 Youth Pulling a Rope[br /]
1646 Standing Male Nude[br /]
1648-50 View of Amster River[br /]
1652 Ruins of Old Town Hall in Amsterdam[br /]
1655 Sleeping Woman [br /]
1655 Woman at Window [br /]
1655 Row of Windmills[br /]
1660 Portrait of a Man[br /]
1658 Female Nude on a stool[br /]
1656-58 Christ on the Mount of Olives[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt, the Dutch master of chiaroscuro (meaning play of the light and dark in painting), has created over 600 paintings besides several etchings and drawings. When he painted, he took "Nature as the only guide." By ‘nature’ he meant the totality of life as it appeared and appealed to him. He was always opposed to the kind of theory of art that prevailed during his time, especially during the late 17th century. Joachim Von Sandrart said of him that, " he did not hesitate to oppose or contradict our rules of art, such as anatomy and the proportions of the human body, perspective and the usefulness of classical statues, Raphael’s drawings and judicious pictorial deposition, and the academies which are so particularly necessary for our professions."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Genius[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
According to him the talent of the artist depends not only on his love for art but also on his "being in love with the task of representing the charms of nature." His approach to art was more emotional than the rational and aesthetic one of his contemporaries.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
His work excelled in the selection and organization of his subject, which he says, is the first role in good composition. His deviation from the set standards of the day seems to have caused as much resentment as the respect that his formidable genius commanded.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
About one third of his paintings have Biblical subjects, most of which are dramatic, in keeping with his Baroque style. He is unusual in the atmosphere of stillness and mystery that he creates in the setting of his paintings.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]A Search Within[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The 60 odd self-portraits that he made, have probably no parallel in the history of art. There are also two etchings and about 10 drawings. He subjected himself to penetrating self-analysis and self-contemplation. If seen together, we would find very little repetition of expression and arrangement. The number of portraits shows an untiring interest in his own features and more than that he probably felt the need to know himself first in order to be able to penetrate the problem of man’s inner life. He was on a search of spiritual ascension through the path of his own personality. All his self-portraits show his immense power of expression. It is only in the self-portrait of 1669, the year of his death that this power seems to fail him and the picture that we see is that of a man who looks mild and empty as compared to his other self-portraits. His self-portraits reveal the blend of the subjective and the universal that marks his genius.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Portraits[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Besides the self-portraits, there are his single portraits and group portraits. His interest in portraiture was probably because of it being profitable. His special field of calling though was Biblical painting. There are more than 400 of these paintings, which form about two-thirds of the bulk of his work. For the most part he chose his own subjects rather than taking on commissions. He did take no commission but this meant that he was then confined to a narrower formula. He could not have the amount of freedom to work; that he allowed himself in portraying his chosen subjects. In his later years there was an increase in his power of characterization and pictorial treatment. He painted a series of portraits of his wife Saskia and also of Hendrickje.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
There aren’t many group or double portraits. Just six double portraits and one family portrait are known to be in existence.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
There are also the large-scale productions of his, the corporation portraits. His dramatic Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp caused a sensation. The much-discussed Nightwatch and The Syndics of the Drapers Guild are two of his most acclaimed works. With his landscapes, he interpreted nature as he did man in his portraiture. He followed in both, a romantic trend combined with realism.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Creative Urge[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt painted, especially the portraits, for money, but the etchings, he made to feed his creative urge and for his personal pleasure. He created during his lifetime nearly 350 etchings, of which about 220 plates are lost to us. His etchings had an international reputation even during his own lifetime. Baldinucci says about his etching –[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
"This manner was too entirely his own, neither used by others nor seen again; with certain scratches of varying strength and irregular and isolated strokes, he produced a deep chiaroscuro of great strength . . . And truth to tell in this particular branch of engraving, Rembrandt was much more highly esteemed by the professors of art than in painting, in which it seems he had exceptional luck than merit."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
In his etching, as in his painting, he went his own way. He was always experimenting and developing new techniques.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Chiaroscuro Effect[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt’s work can be classified into three periods: the early, middle and later according to the events in his life and the changes that came about in his style due to the shift in his life and way of looking at life. His early painting shows the influence of his teacher, Pieter Lastman. The strong effect of light and dark and the drama that are seen in his paintings are the legacy of Lastman. His early portraits show a preoccupation with the subject’s features. He also painted the details of clothes and furniture. The self-portraits of this period up to the 1640’s were probably studies of various emotions or of the chiaroscuro effect. His early Biblical works, in keeping with the Baroque style, were dramatic like most of the other works from this period.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The works of the middle period, that is, during the 1640’s shows a strong influence of classicism. The formal organization and the expression of inner calm in these paintings reflect the spirit of classicism that he had imbibed. His famous and highly dramatic Night Watch, more accurately, The Shooting Company of Captain Banning Cocq also shows the influence of classicism.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Lasting Impression[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
It was during the last years of his life that he created the greatest of his paintings. The heightened drama of his early work was replaced by a mellower spiritual mood. His brushwork became bolder and his palette more richly colorful. One of his finest portraits of Jan Six, in a semi abstract style, that he painted in 1654 shows his daring technical bravura. His light play became even subtler and he concentrated more on the psychological drama of the moment rather than the drama on the surface.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt’s paintings are some of the best loved in the world and rightly so. Looking at them, one feels that one is inside it, watching it with one’s own eyes. It is as if he freezes one moment in time so that we can keep on looking at it, for a moment and more…[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt is famous all over the world for his penetrating self-portraits. The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp, The Night Watch or The Shooting Company of Captain Manning Cocq and the Syndics of the Drapers Guild are some of his most famous works, along with The Return of the Prodigal Son and The Jewish Bride. And rightly so because they succeed in showing, in however fragmented a fashion, the extraordinary force of his achievement. Each of the large-scale paintings represents a landmark in his work.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Anatomy Lesson Of Doctor Tulp[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The first of his commissioned portraits, his dramatic treatment of the subject caused a sensation when it appeared. The subject was a lecture where a corpse was being dissected. The simple act of lecturing has been raised to a dramatic event by the tension that he introduces in the painting. The strongest attraction is the corpse within the circle of the group, being the area of the most intense light. The tones vary from white to black and gray to brown leaving the main effect to the chiaroscuro. The red touches on the dissected arm of the corpse, produce a startling contrast. The group is loosely arranged, with Dr. Tulp in a hat and collar speaking and the students sitting bareheaded around him. A white collar sets off their faces. The subtle variations in the attentiveness of the students are fascinating.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The two students to the doctors left aren’t very attentive. One looks outside the picture and the other looks at the doctor’s face rather than at what he’s doing. Three students directly behind the corpse look eager and are leaning forward to listen closely. The figure at the rear looks directly at the spectator as if pointing to the scene before him. The person to his right holds a paper in his hand with the names written on it and is also looking at the spectator, though not with as direct and appealing a gaze. The strong compositional, psychological and pictorial unity makes it an intensely dramatic image.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Night Watch[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The fame of this painting, created in 1642, rivals even that of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. It is a work that will always impress the world as a masterpiece of a genius. It is a masterpiece and is so probably because it was created at an age when the fount of mastery could be blended with the fire of youth. He was in his thirties when he painted this. The subject of this painting is a simple one but it is his extraordinary treatment of the subject that makes the painting the masterpiece that it is. It was his treatment of the rather ordinary subject of a burgher company marching out to a parade or a shooting contest that raises the occasion to a spectacle of unmistakable pictorial grandeur.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The moment that he has chosen to freeze in time in this particular picture is that of the call to arms when the drum sounds and the arms are being loaded hastily or shouldered and the men are on the move. The group in the painting includes more people than were in the company originally – there is a dog barking at the drummer and children running about. A boy in the middle of the crowd heightens the commotion by firing his gun. The effect achieved is that of movement, of force and of life pulsating through.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
It is his Baroque impulse that transforms a group portrait into that of an animated crowd. He has brushed aside all the static elements and come up with complexity and unification of movement.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The advancing movement of the first two officers of the guard has a dominating influence on the composition. They are figures that are strikingly realistic. The composition has a variety of movements with children darting through the crowd and heads jutting out at various levels and the men of the company leaning over to load their guns.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The background architecture gives an additional clarity to the display of movement. The impression of the Night Watch is more that of a drama of light and dark rather than being one of organized movement or of spatial order. What is responsible for the heightened dramatic effect of the Night Watch is the intensity, both of color and of chiaroscuro.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
There are many who criticize it for its lack of portrait character but from the psychological point of view Rembrandt has made no mistake in giving impetus to the general tension and agitation over the individual character. The Night Watch shows all the promise of his later years and reflects his Baroque trend, bringing it to a culmination.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Syndics[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
It is extremely difficult to do justice to this masterpiece, created twenty years after the Night Watch. The serenity that it exudes is quite unlike the extreme dramatization of the earlier picture. We cannot decide what it is about this painting that deserves our admiration. The penetrating interpretation of the characters and the sense of balance and harmony, both in composition and in color, strike us the most.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rembrandt seems to be, in this painting, completely at ease with the world and with his subjects. He has dispensed with all the fanciful treatment that he was so famous for, adhering instead to the tradition. He has achieved here a perfect solution to the preserving of the character of an individual portrait within a composition, in sync with its action. We see here a tranquility that appears but rarely in his later works. He shows here that he is able to follow the tradition without sacrificing his originality.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The exact number of works that Rembrandt created is not known but it is believed that there are around 600 of them. This is a short list of some of his works.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Self-Portraits[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
His Self–Portraits are 60 in number and painted throughout his lifetime. They can now be seen in museums around the world. Some are at the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston, some at the National gallery in Washington or the one in London and others in museums and private collections the world over.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Portraits[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1630 Old Woman Praying[br /]
1631 Old Man with a Gold chain[br /]
1631 Nicolaes Rusts[br /]
1632 Amalia van Solms[br /]
1632 Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp[br /]
1632 Marten Looten[br /]
1633 Johannes Uytenbogaert[br /]
1634 Johannes Elison [br /]
1634 Saskia as Flora [br /]
1642 The Night Watch[br /]
1662 Syndics of the Drapers Guild[br /]
1668 Laughing Self-Portrait[br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]Religious Paintings[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1625 Stoning of St. Stephen[br /]
1626 Baptism of the Eunuch[br /]
[br /]
1628 Christ at Emmaus[br /]
1628 Capture of Samson[br /]
1633 Raising of the Cross[br /]
1633 Descent from the Cross[br /]
1635 Sacrifice of Isaac[br /]
1645 Holy family with Angels[br /]
1656 Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph [br /]
1660 Peter Denying Christ[br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]History And Mythology[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1626 Palamedes Before Agamemnon[br /]
1630 Andromeda [br /]
1632 Pluto and Proserpina [br /]
1632 Rape of Europa [br /]
1653 Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer[br /]
1661 Conspiracy of Julius Civilis [br /]
1661- 63 Homer[br /]
1664 Lucretia[br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]Landscapes[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1638 Landscape with Storm[br /]
1638 Landscape with Good Samaritan[br /]
1638 Landscape with a Stone Bridge[br /]
1650 Mill [br /]
1655 Winter Landscape [br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]Genre Figures[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1626 Music Lesson [br /]
1629 Young Painter in the Studio[br /]
1655 Woman Bathing[br /][br /]
[br /]
[b]Etchings[/b][br /]
[br /]
[br /]
1632 Raising of Lazarus[br /]
1633 Descent from the Cross[br /]
1634 Annunciation to the Shepherds [br /]
1635 Johannes Uytenbogact[br /]
1636 Christ Before Pilate [br /]
1641 Skyline with Amsterdam[br /]
1641 Windmill [br /]
1643 Three Trees[br /]
1647 Jan Asselyn[br /]
1647 Ephraim Bonus[br /]
1647 Jan Six[br /]
1643-49 Christ Healing the Sick[br /]
1651 Goldweigher’s Field [br /]
1652 Christ Preaching [br /]
1653 Three Crosses[br /]
1652-54 Adoration of the Shepherds[br /]
1654 Descent from the Cross[br /]
1655 Christ Presented to the People[br /]
1657 Abraham Frances[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Drawings[/b]
1631 Seated Old Man[br /]
1631 Woman Bathing [br /]
1635 Saskia Looking out of a window [br /]
1636 Woman Carrying Child[br /]
1636 Saskia in Bed[br /]
1639 Portrait of Titia van Uylenbury[br /]
1645 Youth Pulling a Rope[br /]
1646 Standing Male Nude[br /]
1648-50 View of Amster River[br /]
1652 Ruins of Old Town Hall in Amsterdam[br /]
1655 Sleeping Woman [br /]
1655 Woman at Window [br /]
1655 Row of Windmills[br /]
1660 Portrait of a Man[br /]
1658 Female Nude on a stool[br /]
1656-58 Christ on the Mount of Olives[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• Painting is the grandchild of nature. It is related to God.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
• Choose only one master – Nature.[br /]
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• Try to put into practice what you already know. In so doing, you will, in good time, discover the hidden things you now inquire about.[br /]
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• A picture is complete when the master has achieved his intention by it.[br /]
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• Choose only one master – Nature.[br /]
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• Try to put into practice what you already know. In so doing, you will, in good time, discover the hidden things you now inquire about.[br /]
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• A picture is complete when the master has achieved his intention by it.[br /]
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[b]Rembrandt[/b] was a man who disregarded social convention. He did not bother about keeping company with educated people or contemporary writers. Joachim Von Sandtart says: "He did not in the least know how to keep his station and always associated with the lower orders". Another contemporary of his, Houbraken observed this about him too. Though in context with an older Rembrandt, he said, "In the autumn of his life, Rembrandt kept company mostly with common people and such as practiced art".[br /]
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[b]Rembrandt[/b] had a temperamental nature. Fillpio Baldinucci writes about his appearance: "The ugly and plebian face with which Rembrandt was ill-favored was accompanied by untidy and dirty clothes, since it was his custom, when working, to wipe his brushes on himself and to do other things of a similar nature".[br /]
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[b] Rembrandt[/b] worked with extraordinary intensity and did not like anybody to disturb him. Baldinucci says of that, "When Rembrandt worked, he would not have granted an audience to the first monarch in the world, who would have had to return again and again until he found him no longer engaged". The visitors to his studio, who wanted to examine his paintings too closely, were frightened away by his saying, "The smell of the colors will bother you."[br /]
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[b]Criticism And Praise[/b][br /]
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Max Leibermann says, "Whenever I see a Frans Hals, I feel the desire to paint; but when I see a Rembrandt, I want to give it up."[br /]
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Andries Pels criticizes him in his Gebruik et des toonels with the following words:[br /]
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"What a loss it was for art that such a master hand
Did not use its native strength to better purpose.
Who surpassed him in the matter of painting?
But oh! The greater talent, the more numerous the aberrations
When it attaches itself to no principles, no rules,
But imagines it knows everything to itself."[br /]
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This criticism was that Rembrandt departed too much from the traditions and this led to the wasting of his genius. He neglected the principles too much and was excessively independent.[br /]
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[b]Rembrandt[/b] had a temperamental nature. Fillpio Baldinucci writes about his appearance: "The ugly and plebian face with which Rembrandt was ill-favored was accompanied by untidy and dirty clothes, since it was his custom, when working, to wipe his brushes on himself and to do other things of a similar nature".[br /]
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[b] Rembrandt[/b] worked with extraordinary intensity and did not like anybody to disturb him. Baldinucci says of that, "When Rembrandt worked, he would not have granted an audience to the first monarch in the world, who would have had to return again and again until he found him no longer engaged". The visitors to his studio, who wanted to examine his paintings too closely, were frightened away by his saying, "The smell of the colors will bother you."[br /]
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[b]Criticism And Praise[/b][br /]
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Max Leibermann says, "Whenever I see a Frans Hals, I feel the desire to paint; but when I see a Rembrandt, I want to give it up."[br /]
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Andries Pels criticizes him in his Gebruik et des toonels with the following words:[br /]
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"What a loss it was for art that such a master hand
Did not use its native strength to better purpose.
Who surpassed him in the matter of painting?
But oh! The greater talent, the more numerous the aberrations
When it attaches itself to no principles, no rules,
But imagines it knows everything to itself."[br /]
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This criticism was that Rembrandt departed too much from the traditions and this led to the wasting of his genius. He neglected the principles too much and was excessively independent.[br /]
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