The Rembrandt House Museum () is a museum located in a former house in the

Jodenbreestraat The Jodenbreestraat ("Jewish Broad Street") is a street in the centre of Amsterdam, which connects the Sint Antoniesluis sluice gates to the Mr. Visserplein traffic circle. North of the sluice gates, the street continues on to Nieuwmarkt square ...

, in the center of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. Between 1639 and 1658, the house was occupied by the Dutch

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Rembrandt van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the h ...

, who also had his studio and art dealership there. The museum now includes the house next door, which has the museum shop and more conventional gallery spaces. The house was built around 1606 and was renovated around 1627, probably under the supervision of

Jacob van Campen Jacob van Campen (2 February 1596 — 13 September 1657) was a Dutch artist and architect of the Golden Age. Life He was born into a wealthy family at Haarlem and spent his youth in his hometown. Being of noble birth and with time on his han ...

. It was then given an extra floor and a new facade with a triangular

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. Rembrandt bought it on 5 January 1639 for thirteen thousand

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' (" gold penny"). This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Rom ...

s. After his bankruptcy it was auctioned in 1658 and sold for eleven thousand guilders. In the following centuries it was used as a residence and was renovated several times. At the beginning of the 20th century, the building was in poor condition, and on the occasion of the Rembrandt Year in 1906, it was purchased in 1907 by the municipality of Amsterdam, which donated it to the Rembrandthuis foundation. Between 1907 and 1911 the house was restored by

Karel de Bazel Karel Petrus Cornelis de Bazel (Den Helder, 14 February 1869—Amsterdam, 28 November 1923) was a modern Netherlands, Dutch architect, engraver, draftsman, furniture designer, carpet designer, glass artist and bookbinding designer. He was the tea ...

. The museum was opened on 10 June 1911.

Queen Wilhelmina Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, making her the longest-reigning monarch in Dutch history, as ...

and Prince Hendrik were the first visitors. The Rembrandt House Museum owes its foundation to an initiative by the painter

Jozef Israëls Jozef Israëls (; 27 January 1824 – 12 August 1911) was a Dutch Painting, painter. He was a leading member of the group of landscape painters referred to as the Hague School and was, during his lifetime, "the most respected Dutch artist of th ...

. Since 2008, the museum had around 200,000 visitors per year, with a record number of over 280,000 visitors in 2019.

Rembrandt's house

The museum shows Rembrandt's living and working quarters, including his living room, art room and the studio where he created his masterpieces. The building was redesigned in the 20th century on the basis of the inventory that was drawn up during Rembrandt's bankruptcy in 1656. This gives the visitor an idea of Rembrandt's daily life, his studio practice and what a private house and artist's studio looked like in the 17th century. In Rembrandt's old house there are also works of art from the 17th century, including by Rembrandt's teacher

Pieter Lastman Pieter Lastman (1583–1633) was a Dutch painter. Lastman is considered important because of his work as a painter of history pieces and because his pupils included Rembrandt and Jan Lievens. In his paintings Lastman paid careful attention to ...

and his pupils

Ferdinand Bol Ferdinand Bol (24 June 1616 - 24 August 1680) was a Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman. Although his surviving work is rare, it displays Rembrandt's influence; like his master, Bol favored historical subjects, portraits, numerous self-portraits, ...

and

Govert Flinck Govert (or Govaert) Teuniszoon Flinck (25 January 16152 February 1660) was a Dutch painter of the Dutch Golden Age. Life Born at Kleve, capital of the Duchy of Cleves, which was occupied at the time by the United Provinces, he was apprenticed by ...

Collection

The Rembrandt House Museum owns an almost complete collection of

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

s by Rembrandt, as well as some of his original copper plates. These are regularly displayed in the etching cabinet and in temporary exhibitions in the modern museum wing. The museum has a good collection of paintings from the period, but the Rembrandt paintings are mostly from early in his career. Since Rembrandt used the house for his own collection of works by others, and as a gallery for his career as an art dealer, this is believed to reflect well its appearance while he lived there. In 2019, material-technical research showed that two pots ('grapes') found in 1997 in Rembrandt's

cesspool Cesspit, cesspool and soak pit in some contexts are terms with various meanings: they are used to describe either an underground holding tank (sealed at the bottom) or a soak pit (not sealed at the bottom). A cesspit can be used for the tempo ...

were in fact One of the pots contains remnants of

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

soil. This is a mixture of quartz and clay with which Rembrandt prepared his

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...

es before painting. Leonore van Sloten, curator of Museum Het Rembrandthuis, said about this in the newspaper ''

Het Parool ''Het Parool'' () is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means ''The Password'' or ''The Motto' ...

'': "Rembrandt started using so-called quartz soil from the moment he lived in what is now the museum, and as far as we know is the only one who this did. A mixture of quartz and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

was probably convenient for him from a practical and financial point of view." The two pots are on display in the museum. In 2021, The Rembrandt House Museum received a painting from Mr. and Mrs. Hoogsteder to support the museum during the Covid crisis. The new acquisition is the painting ''Shepherdess in a Landscape'' from c. 1641, made by

, one of Rembrandt's most famous pupils. The painting hangs in Rembrandt's former living room and bedroom. In 2022, the museum purchased four contemporary works of art by Natasja Kensmil and Milan Gies. The museum also owns contemporary art by (amongst others)

Marlene Dumas Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter based in the Netherlands. Early life and education Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father ha ...

, Reinder Homan, Iriée Zamblé and Timothy Voges. Rembrandt House MuseumDSCF7281.jpg, Bed-sitting room. The 17th-century bed did not belong to Rembrandt, but is similar to the original. Rembrandt House MuseumDSCF7288.jpg, Rembrandt's collection room recreated

Exhibitions

The modern museum wing hosts temporary exhibitions throughout the year with works of art by Rembrandt, his contemporaries and his (contemporary) followers. During the national Rembrandt Year in 2019, The Rembrandt House Museum showed three exhibitions: ''Rembrandt's Social Network'', ''Inspired by Rembrandt'' and ''Laboratory Rembrandt.'' Other high-profile exhibits were ''Peter Vos: Metamorphosis'' (2016), ''Rembrandt's Naked Truth'' (2016), ''Glenn Brown'' (2017), ''Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol'' (2017–2018), ''HERE. Black in Rembrandt's time'' (2020), ''Hansken, Rembrandt's Elephant'' (2021) and ''RAW'' (2022).

References

External links

Rembrandt House Museum
official website {{Authority control (arts) 1911 establishments in the Netherlands Art museums and galleries in the Netherlands Art museums and galleries established in 1911 Biographical museums in the Netherlands Historic house museums in the Netherlands Houses completed in 1607 Museums devoted to one artist Museums in Amsterdam Rembrandt Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam 20th-century architecture in the Netherlands

Rembrandt's house

Collection

Exhibitions

See also

References

External links