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Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a
Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...
,
printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...
, and draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest
visual artists The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...
in the history of
Western art The art of Europe, also known as Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period bet ...
.Gombrich, p. 420. It is estimated that Rembrandt's surviving works amount to about three hundred paintings, three hundred etchings and several hundred drawings. Unlike most Dutch painters of the 17th century, Rembrandt's works depict a wide range of styles and subject matter, from
portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...
and self-portraits to landscapes,
genre scenes Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...
, allegorical and historical scenes, biblical and mythological subjects and animal studies. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the
Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...
. Rembrandt never went abroad but was considerably influenced by the work of the Italian
Old Masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...
and Dutch and Flemish artists who had studied in Italy. After he achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. Rembrandt's portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible are regarded as his greatest creative triumphs. His approximately 40 self-portraits form an intimate autobiography.


Early life and education

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, in the
Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...
, now the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. He was the ninth child born to Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuijtbrouck. His family was quite well-to-do; his father was a
miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...
and his mother was a baker's daughter. His mother was
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, and his father belonged to the
Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...
. Religion is a central theme in Rembrandt's works and the religiously fraught period in which he lived makes his faith a matter of interest. As a boy, he attended a
Latin school The Latin school was the grammar school of 14th- to 19th-century Europe, though the latter term was much more common in England. Other terms used include Lateinschule in Germany, or later Gymnasium. Latin schools were also established in Colon ...
. In 1620, he was enrolled at the
University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...
, although he had a greater inclination towards painting and was soon apprenticed to Jacob van Swanenburg, with whom he spent three years.Rembrandt biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by
Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...
, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
After a brief but important apprenticeship of six months with the
history painter History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek mythology, Greek and Roman my ...
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 ...
in Amsterdam, Rembrandt stayed a few months with Jacob Pynas in 1625, though Simon van Leeuwen claimed that Rembrandt was taught by Joris van Schooten and then started his own workshop.


Career

In 1625, Rembrandt opened a studio in Leiden, which he shared with friend and colleague
Jan Lievens Jan Lievens (24 October 1607 – 4 June 1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who was associated with his close contemporary Rembrandt, a year older, in the early parts of their careers. They shared a birthplace in Leiden, training with Pieter ...
. In 1627, Rembrandt began to accept students, among them
Gerrit Dou Gerrit Dou (; 7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for h ...
and
Isaac de Jouderville Isaac de Jouderville (1612 in Leiden – 1645 in Amsterdam), was a Dutch Golden Age painter who was a pupil of Rembrandt. Biography De Jouderville was an orphan whose parents had come from Metz. He became a pupil of Rembrandt in November 162 ...
. Joan Huydecoper is mentioned as the first buyer of a Rembrandt painting in 1628. In 1629, Rembrandt was discovered by the statesman
Constantijn Huygens Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem ( , , ; 4 September 159628 March 1687), was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was also secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist C ...
who procured for Rembrandt important commissions from the court of The Hague. As a result of this connection, Prince Frederik Hendrik continued to purchase paintings from Rembrandt. At the end of 1631, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, a city rapidly expanding as the business and trade capital. He began to practice as a professional portraitist for the first time, with great success. He initially stayed with an art dealer, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, and in 1634, married Hendrick's cousin,
Saskia van Uylenburgh Saskia van Uylenburgh (; 2 August 1612 – 14 June 1642) was the wife of painter Rembrandt, Rembrandt van Rijn. In the course of her life, she was his model for some of his paintings, drawings, and etchings. She was the daughter of Rombert ...
. Saskia came from a respected family: her father Rombertus was a lawyer and had been ''
burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, ) is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or executive of a city or town. The name in English was derived from the Dutch . In so ...
'' (mayor) of Leeuwarden. The couple married in the local church of St. Annaparochie without the presence of Rembrandt's relatives. In the same year, Rembrandt became a
citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...
of Amsterdam and a member of the local
guild of painters The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...
. He also acquired a number of students, among them
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 ...
.Bull, et al., p. 28 In 1635, Rembrandt and Saskia rented a fashionable lodging with a view of the river Amstel. In 1637, Rembrandt moved upriver to
Vlooienburg Vlooienburg or ''Vloonburg'' was a filled-in island in the River Amstel, Amstel river on the site of the Stopera in Amsterdam. In the seventeenth century, a lively migrant neighborhood emerged here with timber traders, Jewish merchants from the Me ...
, in a building on the previous site of the current
Stopera The Stopera is a building complex in Amsterdam, Netherlands, housing both the city hall of Amsterdam and the Dutch National Opera and Ballet (formerly Het Muziektheater), the principal opera house in Amsterdam that is home of Dutch National Ope ...
. In May 1639 they moved to a recently modernized house in the upscale 'Breestraat' with artists and art dealers;
Nicolaes Pickenoy Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy (10 January 1588 – 1653/1656) was a Dutch painter of Flemish origin. Pickenoy was possibly a pupil of Cornelis van der Voort and presumably Bartholomeus van der Helst was his own pupil. Life He was the so ...
, a portrait painter, was his neighbor. The
mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...
to finance the 13,000
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 ...
purchase would be a cause for later financial difficulties. The neighborhood sheltered many immigrants and was becoming the Jewish quarter. It was there that Rembrandt frequently sought his Jewish neighbors to model for his Old Testament scenes. One of the great patrons at the early stages of his career was Amsterdam statesman
Andries de Graeff Andries de Graeff (19 February 1611 – 30 November 1678) was a regent and burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam and leading Dutch statesman during the Golden Age. He came from the De Graeff family, which, together with the Bicker family by marria ...
. Although they were by now affluent, the couple suffered several personal setbacks; three children died within weeks of their births. Only their fourth child,
Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September AD 81) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, becoming the first Roman emperor ever to succeed h ...
, who was born in 1641, survived into adulthood. Saskia died in 1642, probably from
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
. Rembrandt's drawings of her on her sick and death bed are among his most moving works.Slive (1995), p. 71 After Saskia's illness, the widow Geertje Dircx was hired as Titus' caretaker and dry nurse; at some time, she also became Rembrandt's lover. In May 1649 she left and charged Rembrandt with
breach of promise Breach of promise is a common-law tort, abolished in many jurisdictions. It was also called breach of contract to marry,N.Y. Civil Rights Act article 8, §§ 80-A to 84. and the remedy awarded was known as heart balm. From at least the Middle ...
and asked to be awarded
alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide ...
. Rembrandt tried to settle the matter amicably, but to pay her lawyer she pawned the diamond ring he had given her that once belonged to Saskia. On 14 October they came to an agreement; the court particularly stated that Rembrandt had to pay a yearly maintenance allowance, provided that Titus remained her only heir and she sold none of Rembrandt's possessions. As Dircx broke her promise, Rembrandt and members of Dircx's own family had her committed to a women's house of correction at Gouda in August 1650. Rembrandt also took measures to ensure she stayed in the house of correction for as long as possible. Rembrandt paid for the costs. In early 1649, Rembrandt began a relationship with the 23-year-old
Hendrickje Stoffels Hendrickje Stoffels (1626 – 21 July 1663) was the longtime partner of Rembrandt. The couple were unable to marry because of the financial settlement linked to the will of Rembrandt's deceased wife Saskia van Uylenburgh, Saskia, but they remaine ...
, who had initially been his maid. She may have been the cause of Geertje's leaving. In that year he made no (dated) paintings or etchings at all. In 1654 Rembrandt painted a nude Bathsheba at Her Bath. In June Hendrickje received three summonses from the Reformed Church to answer the charge "that she had committed the acts of a whore with Rembrandt the painter". In July she admitted her guilt and was banned from receiving communion. Rembrandt was not summoned to appear for the Church council. In October they had a daughter, Cornelia. Had he remarried he would have lost access to a trust set up for Titus in Saskia's will.


Insolvency

Rembrandt, despite his artistic success, found himself in financial turmoil. His penchant for acquiring art, prints, and rare items led him to live beyond his means. In January 1653 the sale of the property formally was finalized but Rembrandt still had to cover half of the remaining mortgage. Creditors began pressing for installments but Rembrandt, facing financial strain, sought a postponement. The house required repairs prompting Rembrandt to borrow money from friends, including
Jan Six Jan Six (14 January 1618, Amsterdam – 28 May 1700, Amsterdam) was an important cultural figure in the Dutch Golden Age. Biography From a well-to-do cloth merchant family Six (family name), Jan Six was the son of Jean Six (1575–1617) and his ...
. In November 1655, amid a year overshadowed by plague and the drafting of wills, Rembrandt's 14-year-old son Titus took a significant step by drafting a will that designated his father as the sole heir, effectively sidelining his mother's family. In December Rembrandt orchestrated a sale of his paintings, yet the earnings failed to meet expectations. This tumultuous period deeply impacted the art industry, prompting Rembrandt to seek a high court arrangement known as
cessio bonorum ''Cessio bonorum'' (Latin for a "surrender of goods"), in Roman law, is a voluntary surrender of goods by a debtor to his creditors. It did not amount to a discharge unless the property ceded was sufficient for the purpose, but it secured the deb ...
. Despite the financial difficulties, Rembrandt's bankruptcy was not forced. In July 1656, he declared his
insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...
, taking stock and willingly surrendered his assets.M. Bosman (2019) Rembrandts plan. De ware geschiedenis van zijn faillissement Notably, he had already transferred the house to his son. Both the authorities and his creditors showed leniency, granting him ample time to settle his debts. Jacob J. Hinlopen allegedly played a role. In November 1657 another auction was held to sell his paintings, as well as a substantial number of etching plates and drawings, some of the latter by famous artists including
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
, Mantegna and
Giorgione Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco (; 1470s – 17 September 1510), known as Giorgione, was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic quality of his work, ...
. Remarkably, Rembrandt was permitted to retain his tools as a means of generating income. Rembrandt lost the guardianship of his son and thus control over his actions. A new guardian, Louis Crayers, claimed the house in settlement of Titus's debt. The sale list comprising 363 items offers insight into Rembrandt's diverse collections, which encompassed
Old Master In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...
paintings, drawings, busts of Roman emperors, statues of
Greek philosophers Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics ...
, books (a bible), two globes, bonnets,
armor Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, e ...
, and various objects from Asia (
porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
), as well as a collections of
natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
specimens (two lion skins, a
bird-of-paradise The birds-of-paradise are members of the Family (biology), family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family has 45 species in 17 genera. T ...
,
corals Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...
and minerals). Unfortunately, the prices realized in the sale were disappointing. By February 1658, Rembrandt' house was sold at a
foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...
auction, and the family moved to more modest lodgings at
Rozengracht The Rozengracht is a street in the Jordaan neighbourhood of Amsterdam. It runs between the Prinsengracht at the Westermarkt and the Singel canal at De Clercqstraat. The name means "Rose canal". The Rozengracht is one of the six former canals in ...
. In 1660, he finished '' Ahasuerus and Haman at the feast of Esther'' which he sold to Jan J. Hinlopen. Early December 1660, the sale of the house was finalized but the proceeds went directly to Titus' guardian. Two weeks later, Hendrickje and Titus established a
dummy corporation A dummy corporation, dummy company, or false company is an entity created to serve as a Front organization, front or cover for one or more companies. It can have the appearance of being real (logo, website, and sometimes employing actual staff), bu ...
as art dealers, allowing Rembrandt, who had board and lodging, to continue his artistic pursuits. In 1661, they secured a contract for a major project at the newly completed
town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
. The resulting work, '' The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'', was rejected by the mayors and returned to the painter within a few weeks; the surviving fragment (in Stockholm) is only a quarter of the original. Despite these setbacks, Rembrandt continued to receive significant portrait commissions and completed notable works, such as the
Sampling Officials ''The Sampling Officials'' (), also called ''Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild'' (), is a 1662 oil painting by Rembrandt. It is now in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It has been described as his "last great collective portrait ...
in 1662. It remains a challenge to gauge Rembrandt's wealth accurately as he may have overestimated the value of his art collection. Nonetheless, half of his assets were earmarked for Titus' inheritance. In March 1663, with Hendrickje's illness, Titus assumed a more prominent role. Isaac van Hertsbeeck, Rembrandt's primary creditor, went to the High Court and contested Titus' priority for payment, leading to legal battles that Titus ultimately won in 1665 when he came of age. During this time, Rembrandt worked on notable pieces like the Jewish Bride and his final self-portraits but struggled with rent arrears. Notably, Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, visited Rembrandt twice, and returned to Florence with one of the self-portraits. Rembrandt outlived both Hendrickje and Titus; he died on Friday 4 October 1669 and was buried four days later in a rented grave in the
Westerkerk The Westerkerk (; ) is a Calvinism, Reformed church within Protestant Church in the Netherlands, Dutch Protestant Calvinism in central Amsterdam, Netherlands. It lies in the most western part of the Grachtengordel (Amsterdam), Grachtengordel nei ...
. His
illegitimate child Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...
, Cornelia (1654–1684), eventually moved to Batavia in 1670 accompanied by an obscure painter and her mother's inheritance. Titus' considerable inheritance passed to his only child, Titia (1669-1715) who married her cousin and lived at Blauwburgwal. Rembrandt's life was marked by more than just artistic achievements; he navigated numerous legal and financial challenges, leaving a complex legacy.


Works


Overview

In a letter to Huygens, Rembrandt offered the only surviving explanation of what he sought to achieve through his art, writing that, "the greatest and most natural movement", translated from ''de meeste en de natuurlijkste beweegelijkheid''. The word "''beweegelijkheid''" translates to "emotion" or "motive". Whether this refers to objectives, material, or something else, is not known but critics have drawn particular attention to the way Rembrandt seamlessly melded the earthly and spiritual. Earlier 20th century connoisseurs claimed Rembrandt had produced well over 600 paintings, nearly 400 etchings and 2,000 drawings. More recent scholarship, from the 1960s to the present day (led by the
Rembrandt Research Project The Rembrandt Research Project (RRP) was an initiative of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), which is the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Its purpose was to organize and categorize research on Remb ...
), often controversially, has winnowed his oeuvre to nearer 300 paintings. His prints, traditionally all called etchings, although many are produced in whole or part by
engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...
and sometimes
drypoint Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically iden ...
, have a much more stable total of slightly under 300. It is likely Rembrandt made many more drawings in his lifetime than 2,000 but those extant are rarer than presumed. Two experts claim that the number of drawings whose autograph status can be regarded as effectively "certain" is no higher than about 75, although this is disputed. The list was to be unveiled at a scholarly meeting in February 2010. At one time, approximately 90 paintings were counted as Rembrandt self-portraits but it is now known that he had his students copy his own self-portraits as part of their training. Modern scholarship has reduced the autograph count to over forty paintings, as well as a few drawings and thirty-one etchings, which include many of the most remarkable images of the group. Some show him posing in quasi-historical fancy dress, or pulling faces at himself. His oil paintings trace the progress from an uncertain young man, through the dapper and very successful portrait-painter of the 1630s, to the troubled but massively powerful portraits of his old age. Together they give a remarkably clear picture of the man, his appearance and his psychological make-up, as revealed by his richly weathered face. In his portraits and self-portraits, he angles the sitter's face in such a way that the ridge of the nose nearly always forms the line of demarcation between brightly illuminated and shadowy areas. A Rembrandt face is a face partially eclipsed; and the nose, bright and obvious, thrusting into the riddle of halftones, serves to focus the viewer's attention upon, and to dramatize, the division between a flood of light—an overwhelming clarity—and a brooding duskiness. In some of his biblical works, including ''The Raising of the Cross'', ''Joseph Telling His Dreams'', and '' The Stoning of Saint Stephen'', Rembrandt painted himself as a character in the crowd. Durham suggests that this was because the Bible was for Rembrandt "a kind of diary, an account of moments in his own life". Among the more prominent characteristics of Rembrandt's work are his use of
chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...
, the theatrical employment of light and shadow derived from
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...
, or, more likely, from the Dutch Caravaggisti but adapted for very personal means. Also notable are his dramatic and lively presentation of subjects, devoid of the rigid formality that his contemporaries often displayed, and a deeply felt compassion for mankind, irrespective of wealth and age. His immediate family—his wife Saskia, his son Titus and his common-law wife Hendrickje—often figured prominently in his paintings, many of which had
mythical Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
, biblical or historical subjects.


Periods, subjects and styles

Throughout his career, Rembrandt took as his most common subjects portraits, narrative or "
history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...
s", mostly biblical, and
landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
. He was especially praised by his contemporaries for his biblical subjects, for his skill in representing emotions, and attention to detail. Stylistically, his paintings progressed from the early "smooth" manner, characterized by fine technique in the portrayal of illusionistic form, to the late "rough" treatment of richly variegated paint surfaces, which allowed for an illusionism of form suggested by the tactile quality of the paint itself. Rembrandt must have realized that if he kept the paint deliberately loose and "paint-like" on some parts of the canvas, the perception of space became much greater. A parallel development may be seen in Rembrandt's skill as a printmaker. In the etchings of his maturity, particularly from the late 1640s onward, the freedom and breadth of his drawings and paintings found expression in the print medium as well. The works encompass a wide range of subject matter and technique, sometimes leaving large areas of white paper to suggest space, at other times employing complex webs of line to produce rich dark tones. Lastman's influence on Rembrandt was most prominent during his period in Leiden from 1625 to 1631.van de Wetering, p. 284. Paintings were rather small but rich in details (for example, in costumes and jewelry). Religious and
allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...
subjects were favored, as were
tronie A tronie () is a type of work common in Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish Baroque painting that depicts an exaggerated or characteristic facial expression. These works were not intended as portraits or caricatures but as studies of expressio ...
s. In 1626 Rembrandt produced his first etchings, the wide dissemination of which would largely account for his international fame. In 1629, he completed '' Judas Repentant, Returning the Pieces of Silver'' and '' The Artist in His Studio'', works that evidence his interest in the handling of light and variety of paint application and constitute the first major progress in his development as a painter. During his early years in Amsterdam (1632–1636), Rembrandt began to paint dramatic biblical and mythological scenes in high contrast and of large format (''
The Blinding of Samson ''The Blinding of Samson'' is a 1636 painting by Rembrandt, now in the Städel (in Frankfurt). The painting is the first of its kind in pictorial tradition. No other artist at the time had painted this specific narrative moment. This painting ...
'', 1636, ''
Belshazzar's Feast Belshazzar's feast, or the story of the writing on the wall, chapter 5 in the Book of Daniel, tells how Neo-Babylonian royal Belshazzar holds a great feast and drinks from the vessels that had been looted in the destruction of the First Temple. ...
'', c. 1635 ''
Danaë In Greek mythology, Danaë (, ; ; , ) was an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age. Family Danae was the daughter and only child of King Acr ...
'', 1636 but reworked later), seeking to emulate the baroque style of
Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...
. With the occasional help of assistants in Uylenburgh's workshop, he painted numerous portrait commissions both small ( ''Jacob de Gheyn III'') and large (''Portrait of the Shipbuilder Jan Rijcksen and his Wife'', 1633, ''
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp ''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'' is a 1632 oil painting on canvas by Rembrandt housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. It was originally created to be displayed by the Surgeons Guild in their meeting room. The p ...
'', 1632). By the late 1630s, Rembrandt had produced a few paintings and many etchings of
landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
. Often these landscapes highlighted natural drama, featuring uprooted trees and ominous skies (''Cottages before a Stormy Sky'', c. 1641; ''
The Three Trees ''The Three Trees'' is a 1643 print in etching and drypoint by Rembrandt, his largest landscape print. It was assigned the number B.212 by Adam von Bartsch and impressions of the work are in the Rijksmuseum, the National Gallery of Canada and th ...
'', 1643). From 1640 his work became less exuberant and more sober in tone, possibly reflecting personal tragedy. Biblical scenes were now derived more often from the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
than the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
, as had been the case before. In 1642 he painted ''
The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' (), is a 1642 painting ...
'', the most substantial of the important group portrait commissions which he received in this period, and through which he sought to find solutions to compositional and narrative problems that had been attempted in previous works. In the decade following the ''Night Watch'', Rembrandt's paintings varied greatly in size, subject, and style. The previous tendency to create dramatic effects primarily by strong contrasts of light and shadow gave way to the use of frontal lighting and larger and more saturated areas of color. Simultaneously, figures came to be placed parallel to the picture plane. These changes can be seen as a move toward a classical mode of composition and, considering the more expressive use of brushwork as well, may indicate a familiarity with Venetian art (''Susanna and the Elders'', 1637–47). At the same time, there was a marked decrease in painted works in favor of etchings and drawings of landscapes. In the 1650s, Rembrandt's style changed again. Colors became richer and brush strokes more pronounced. With these changes, Rembrandt distanced himself from earlier work and current fashion, which increasingly inclined toward fine, detailed works. His use of light becomes more jagged and harsh, and shine becomes almost nonexistent. His singular approach to paint application may have been suggested in part by familiarity with the work of
Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...
, and could be seen in the context of the then current discussion of 'finish' and surface quality of paintings. Contemporary accounts sometimes remark disapprovingly of the coarseness of Rembrandt's brushwork, and the artist himself was said to have dissuaded visitors from looking too closely at his paintings. The tactile manipulation of paint may hearken to medieval procedures, when mimetic effects of rendering informed a painting's surface. The result is a richly varied handling of paint, deeply layered and often apparently haphazard, which suggests form and space in both an illusory and highly individual manner. In later years,
biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
subjects were often depicted but emphasis shifted from dramatic group scenes to intimate portrait-like figures (''James the Apostle'', 1661). In his last years, Rembrandt painted his most deeply reflective self-portraits (from 1652 to 1669 he painted fifteen), and several moving images of both men and women ('' The Jewish Bride'', c. 1666)—in love, in life, and before God.


Graphic works

Rembrandt produced
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 for most of his career, from 1626 to 1660, when he was forced to sell his printing-press and practically abandoned etching. Only the troubled year of 1649 produced no dated work. He took easily to etching and, though he learned to use a burin and partly
engraved Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an inta ...
many plates, the freedom of etching technique was fundamental to his work. He was very closely involved in the whole process of printmaking, and must have printed at least early examples of his etchings himself. At first he used a style based on drawing but soon moved to one based on painting, using a mass of lines and numerous bitings with the acid to achieve different strengths of line. Towards the end of the 1630s, he reacted against this manner and moved to a simpler style, with fewer bitings. He worked on the so-called '' Hundred Guilder Print'' in stages throughout the 1640s, and it was the "critical work in the middle of his career", from which his final etching style began to emerge. Although the print only survives in two
states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
, the first very rare, evidence of much reworking can be seen underneath the final print and many drawings survive for elements of it. In the mature works of the 1650s, Rembrandt was more ready to improvise on the plate and large prints typically survive in several states, up to eleven, often radically changed. He now used
hatching Hatching () is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing (or painting or scribing) closely spaced parallel lines. When lines are placed at an angle to one another, it is called cross-hatching. Hatching is als ...
to create his dark areas, which often take up much of the plate. He also experimented with the effects of printing on different kinds of paper, including
Japanese paper is traditional Japanese paper processed by hand using fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (''Edgeworthia chrysantha''), or the paper mulberry (''kōzo'') bush. ''Washi'' is generally tougher than ordinary p ...
, which he used frequently, and on
vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...
. He began to use "
surface tone In printmaking, surface tone, or surface-tone, is produced by deliberately or accidentally not wiping all the ink off the surface of the printing plate, so that parts of the image have a light tone from the film of ink left. Tone in printmaking me ...
", leaving a thin film of ink on parts of the plate instead of wiping it completely clean to print each impression. He made more use of
drypoint Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically iden ...
, exploiting, especially in landscapes, the rich fuzzy burr that this technique gives to the first few impressions. His prints have similar subjects to his paintings, although the 27 self-portraits are relatively more common, and portraits of other people less so. The landscapes, mostly small, largely set the course for the graphic treatment of landscape until the end of the 19th century. Of the many hundreds of drawings Rembrandt made, only about two hundred have a landscape motif as their subject, and of the approximately three hundred etchings, about thirty show a landscape. As for his painted landscapes, one does not even get beyond eight works. One third of his etchings are of religious subjects, many treated with a homely simplicity, whilst others are his most monumental prints. A few erotic, or just obscene, compositions have no equivalent in his paintings. Rembrandt owned, until forced to sell it, a magnificent collection of works by other artists. He was influenced by artists including
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...
with his chiaroscuro lighting. Borrowings and influences in his work can be traced to artists as diverse as
Andrea Mantegna Andrea Mantegna (, ; ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian Renaissance painter, a student of Ancient Rome, Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with Perspective (graphical), pe ...
(with his ''Entombment''),
Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of ...
,
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
,
Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...
,
Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
,
Hercules Seghers Hercules Pieterszoon Seghers or Segers ( 1589 – 1638) was a Dutch painter and printmaker of the Dutch Golden Age. Segers is in fact the more common form in contemporary documents, and was used by the painter himself (modern use is about equall ...
, and
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (baptized 23 March 16095 May 1664) was an Italian Baroque painter, printmaker and draftsman, of the Genoese school (painting), Genoese school. He is best known now for his etchings, and as the inventor of the printm ...
. Drawings by Rembrandt and his pupils/followers have been extensively studied by many artists and scholars through the centuries.


Asian inspiration

Rembrandt was interested in Mughal miniatures, especially around the 1650s. He drew versions of some 23 Mughal paintings and may have owned an album of them. These miniatures include paintings of
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...
,
Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
,
Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...
and
Dara Shikoh Dara Shikoh (20 March 1615 – 30 August 1659), also transliterated as Dara Shukoh, was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was designated with the title ''Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba'' () and was favoured ...
and may have influenced the costumes and other aspects of his works.


''The Night Watch''

Rembrandt painted ''The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq'', known as ''
The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' (), is a 1642 painting ...
'', between 1640 and 1642, and it became his most famous work. The piece was commissioned for the new hall of the '' Kloveniersdoelen'', the musketeer branch of the civic militia. Rembrandt departed from convention on both narrative painting and portraits, which ordered that such genre pieces should be stately and formal. Instead, he created a complex layering of figures in a dramatic depiction of an action, the firing of a musket, affecting some of the characters but not others. The painting is not set at night, its darkness being caused by ageing; and it is not of a watch or patrol, but a ceremony. The painting has received many interpretations; if as Joseph Manca suggests it was meant to function at multiple levels, many of the interpretations may be correct. Thus, unlike in a conventional narrative painting, the people depicted are represented in lifelike individual portraits. The style seems to show a real event in a real place, but its complex structure appears contrived or theatrical, while the street setting is invented. It can be seen as a picture of a militia charged with keeping order, but it equally looks like a disorderly scene. It alludes to serious works like ''
The School of Athens ''The School of Athens'' () is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as part of a commission by Pope Julius II to decorate the rooms now called the in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. ...
'' by
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
, and has been seen as humorous or parodic. Manca suggests that the calmness of the two officers in the foreground, continuing to carry out their duty despite the disturbance behind them, indicates their "moral excellence"; certainly, their status is clearly indicated, even flattered.


Expert assessments

In 1968, the Rembrandt Research Project began under the sponsorship of the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Scientific Research; it was initially expected to last a highly optimistic ten years. Art historians teamed up with experts from other fields to reassess the authenticity of works attributed to Rembrandt, using all methods available, including state-of-the-art technical diagnostics, and to compile a complete new
catalogue raisonné A (or critical catalogue) is an annotated listing of the works of an artist or group of artists and can contain all works or a selection of works categorised by different parameters such as medium or period. A ''catalogue raisonné'' is normal ...
of his paintings. As a result of their findings, many paintings that were previously attributed to Rembrandt have been removed from their list, although others have been added back. One example of activity is ''
The Polish Rider '' The Polish Rider '' is a seventeenth-century painting by Rembrandt, usually dated to the 1650s, of a young man traveling on horseback through a murky landscape, now in The Frick Collection in New York City, New York. When the painting was sol ...
'', now in the
Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...
in New York. Rembrandt's authorship had been questioned by at least one scholar, Alfred von Wurzbach, at the beginning of the twentieth century but for many decades later most scholars, including the foremost authority writing in English,
Julius S. Held Julius Samuel Held (1905–2002) was an art historian, collector, and expert on Dutch painters Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Rembrandt. He published several monographs and was a professor of art history at Barnard College, Columbia ...
, agreed that it was indeed by the master. In the 1980s, however, Dr. Josua Bruyn of the Foundation Rembrandt Research Project cautiously and tentatively attributed the painting to one of Rembrandt's closest and most talented pupils,
Willem Drost Willem Drost (baptized 19 April 1633 – buried 25 February 1659) was a Dutch Golden Age Painting, painter and printmaker of history paintings and portraits. Biography He is a mysterious figure, closely associated with Rembrandt, with very few ...
, about whom little is known. But Bruyn's remained a minority opinion, the suggestion of Drost's authorship is now generally rejected, and the Frick itself never changed its own attribution, the label still reading "Rembrandt" and not "attributed to" or "school of". More recent opinion has shifted even more decisively in favor of the Frick; In his 1999 book ''Rembrandt's Eyes'',
Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...
and the Rembrandt Project scholar Ernst van de Wetering (Melbourne Symposium, 1997) both argued for attribution to the master. Those few scholars who still question Rembrandt's authorship feel that the execution is uneven and favour different attributions for different parts of the work. A similar issue was raised by Schama concerning the verification of titles associated with the subject matter depicted in Rembrandt's works. For example, the exact subject being portrayed in ''
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer ''Aristotle with a Bust of Homer'' (), also known as ''Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer'', is an oil-on-canvas painting by Rembrandt that depicts Aristotle wearing a gold chain and contemplating a sculpted Bust (sculpture), bust of Homer. I ...
'', recently retitled by curators at the Metropolitan Museum, has been directly challenged by Schama applying the scholarship of Paul Crenshaw. Schama presents a substantial argument that it was the famous ancient Greek painter
Apelles Apelles of Kos (; ; fl. 4th century BC) was a renowned Painting, painter of ancient Greece. Pliny the Elder, to whom much of modern scholars' knowledge of this artist is owed (''Natural History (Pliny), Naturalis Historia'' 35.36.79–97 and '' ...
who is depicted in contemplation by Rembrandt and not Aristotle. Another painting, ''Pilate Washing His Hands'', is also of questionable attribution. Critical opinion of this picture has varied since 1905, when Wilhelm von Bode described it as "a somewhat abnormal work" by Rembrandt. Scholars have since dated the painting to the 1660s and assigned it to an anonymous pupil, possibly Aert de Gelder. The composition bears superficial resemblance to mature works by Rembrandt but lacks the master's command of illumination and modeling. The attribution and re-attribution work is ongoing. In 2005 four oil paintings previously attributed to Rembrandt's students were reclassified as the work of Rembrandt himself: ''Study of an Old Man in Profile'' and ''Study of an Old Man with a Beard'' from a US private collection, '' Study of a Weeping Woman'', owned by the
Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...
, and ''Portrait of an Elderly Woman in a White Bonnet'', painted in 1640. The ''Old Man Sitting in a Chair'' is a further example: in 2014, Professor
Ernst van de Wetering Ernst van de Wetering (9 March 1938 – 11 August 2021) was a Dutch art historian and an expert on Rembrandt and his work. Background Ernst van de Wetering was born in Hengelo. He was first trained as an artist at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts ...
offered his view to ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' that the demotion of the 1652 painting ''Old Man Sitting in a Chair'' "was a vast mistake...it is a most important painting. The painting needs to be seen in terms of Rembrandt's experimentation". This was highlighted much earlier by Nigel Konstam who studied Rembrandt throughout his career. Rembrandt's own studio practice is a major factor in the difficulty of attribution, since, like many masters before him, he encouraged his students to copy his paintings, sometimes finishing or retouching them to be sold as originals, and sometimes selling them as authorized copies. Additionally, his style proved easy enough for his most talented students to emulate. Further complicating matters is the uneven quality of some of Rembrandt's own work, and his frequent stylistic evolutions and experiments. As well, there were later imitations of his work, and restorations which so seriously damaged the original works that they are no longer recognizable.


Painting materials

Technical investigation of Rembrandt's paintings in the possession of the
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister The (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch and F ...
and in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Kassel) was conducted by Hermann Kühn in 1977. The pigment analyses of some thirty paintings have shown that Rembrandt's palette consisted of the following pigments:
lead white Lead white is a thick, opaque, and heavy white pigment composed primarily of basic lead carbonate, , with a crystalline molecular structure. It was the most widely produced and used white pigment in different parts of the world from antiquity unti ...
, various
ochres Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...
, Vandyke brown, bone black,
charcoal black Soot ( ) is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. Soot is considered a hazardous substance with carcinogenic properties. Most broadly, the term includes all the particulate matter produced b ...
,
lamp black Carbon black (with subtypes acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid catalyti ...
,
vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...
,
madder lake Alizarin (also known as 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone, Mordant Red 11, C.I. 58000, and Turkey Red) is an organic compound with formula that has been used throughout history as a red dye, principally for dyeing textile fabrics. Historically it wa ...
,
azurite Azurite or '' Azure spar'Krivovichev V. G.'' Mineralogical glossary. Scientific editor A. G. Bulakh. — St.Petersburg: St.Petersburg Univ. Publ. House. 2009. — 556 p. — ISBN 978-5-288-04863-0. ''(in Russian)'' is a soft, deep-blue copp ...
,
ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. Its lengthy grinding and washing process makes the natural pigment quite valuable—roughly ten times more expensive than the stone it comes fr ...
, yellow lake and
lead-tin-yellow Lead-tin yellow is a yellow pigment, of historical importance in oil painting, sometimes called the "Yellow of the Old Masters" because of the frequency with which it was used by those famous painters. Nomenclature The name lead-tin yellow is ...
. Synthetic
orpiment Orpiment, also known as ″yellow arsenic blende″ is a deep-colored, orange-yellow arsenic sulfide mineral with formula . It is found in volcanic fumaroles, low-temperature hydrothermal veins, and hot springs and may be formed through sublimatio ...
was shown in the shadows of the sleeve of the jewish groom. This toxic arsenic yellow was rarely used in oil painting. One painting (Saskia van Uylenburgh as Flora) reportedly contains
gamboge Gamboge ( ) is a deep-yellow pigment derived from a species of tree that primarily grows in Cambodia. Popular in East Asian watercolor works, it has been used across a number of media dating back to the 8th century. Easy to transport and manipula ...
. Rembrandt very rarely used pure blue or green colors, the most pronounced exception being ''Belshazzar's Feast'' in the National Gallery in London.Bomford, D. et al., Art in the making: Rembrandt, New edition, Yale University Press, 2006 The book by Bomford describes more recent technical investigations and pigment analyses of Rembrandt's paintings predominantly in the National Gallery in London. The entire array of pigments employed by Rembrandt can be found at ColourLex. The best source for technical information on Rembrandt's paintings on the web is the Rembrandt Database containing all works of Rembrandt with detailed investigative reports, infrared and radiography images and other scientific details.


Name and signature

"Rembrandt" is a modification of the spelling of the artist's first name that he introduced in 1633. "Harmenszoon" indicates that his father's name is Harmen. "van Rijn" indicates that his family lived near the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
. Rembrandt's earliest signatures (c. 1625) consisted of an initial "R", or the monogram "RH" (for Rembrant Harmenszoon), and starting in 1629, "RHL" (the "L" stood, presumably, for Leiden). In 1632, he used this monogram early in the year, then added his family name to it, "RHL-van Rijn" but replaced this form in that same year and began using his first name alone with its original spelling, "Rembrant". In 1633 he added a "d", and maintained this form consistently from then on, proving that this minor change had a meaning for him (whatever it might have been). This change is purely visual; it does not change the way his name is pronounced. Curiously enough, despite the large number of paintings and etchings signed with this modified first name, most of the documents that mentioned him during his lifetime retained the original "Rembrant" spelling. (Note: the rough chronology of signature forms above applies to the paintings, and to a lesser degree to the etchings; from 1632, presumably, there is only one etching signed "RHL-v. Rijn", the large-format "Raising of Lazarus", B 73). His practice of signing his work with his first name, later followed by
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...
, was probably inspired by
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
,
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
and
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
who, then as now, were referred to by their first names alone.


Workshop

Rembrandt ran a large workshop and had many pupils. The
list of Rembrandt pupils The Amsterdam studio of the prolific Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt included numerous younger pupils/assistants. Among his many pupils were: * Beijeren, Leendert van (1619-164(RKD)* Bol, Ferdinand (1616-1680)(AH)http://explore.rkd.nl/en/arti ...
from his period in Leiden as well as his time in Amsterdam is quite long, mostly because his influence on painters around him was so great that it is difficult to tell whether someone worked for him in his studio or just copied his style for patrons eager to acquire a Rembrandt. A partial list should include
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, ...
,
Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Brouwer ( – January 1638) was a Flemish painter active in Flanders and the Dutch Republic in the first half of the 17th century.Gerrit Dou Gerrit Dou (; 7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for h ...
,
Willem Drost Willem Drost (baptized 19 April 1633 – buried 25 February 1659) was a Dutch Golden Age Painting, painter and printmaker of history paintings and portraits. Biography He is a mysterious figure, closely associated with Rembrandt, with very few ...
, Heiman Dullaart,
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (19 August 1621 – 29 September 1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and a favourite student of Rembrandt. He was also an etcher, an amateur poet, a collector and an adviser on art. Biography Gerbrand was born in Amste ...
,
Carel Fabritius Carel Pietersz. Fabritius (; bapt. 27 February 1622 – 12 October 1654) was a Dutch painter. He was a pupil of Rembrandt and worked in his studio in Amsterdam. Fabritius, who was a member of the Delft School, developed his own artistic style ...
,
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 ...
, Hendrick Fromantiou,
Aert de Gelder Aert de Gelder (; October 26, 1645 – August 27, 1727) was a Dutch painter, the only Dutch artist to paint in the tradition of Rembrandt's late style into the 18th century.Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten (2 August 1627, in Dordrecht – 19 October 1678, in Dordrecht) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, who was also a poet and author on art theory. Biography Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten trained first with his father Dir ...
,
Abraham Janssens Abraham Janssens I, Abraham Janssen I or Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen (1575–1632) was a Flemish Painting, painter, who is known principally for his large religious and mythological works, which show the influence of Caravaggio. He was the lead ...
,
Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723) was a German-born British painter. The leading Portrait painting, portraitist in England during the late Stuart period, Stuart and early Georgian eras ...
, Philip de Koninck, Jacob Levecq, Nicolaes Maes, Jürgen Ovens, Christopher Paudiß, Willem de Poorter, Jan Victors, and Willem van der Vliet.


Museum collections

The United States has the largest number of Rembrandt's paintings, spread over several museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (mostly portraits) and the
Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...
in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, in total 86 paintings. Other large groups are in Germany, with 69 paintings, at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin,
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister The (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch and F ...
in Dresden, and Schloss Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel, and elsewhere. The UK has a total of 51, especially in the National Gallery and Royal Collection. There are 49 in the Netherlands, many in the Rijksmuseum, which has ''
The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' (), is a 1642 painting ...
'' and '' The Jewish Bride'', and the Mauritshuis in The Hague. Others can be found in The Louvre, the Hermitage Museum, and Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. The Royal Castle, Warsaw, Royal Castle in Warsaw has two paintings by Rembrandt. Large collections of Rembrandt's drawings are held in the Rijksmuseum, the Louvre, and the British Museum. The Rembrandt House Museum holds many of his drawings and "almost all" the etchings, a selection of which are on rotating display in the house. Apart from a few very rare prints, mostly less important early studies, or "the informal printed scribbles from the artist's early years", most of his prints are not very rare by museum standards, and major print rooms have good collections. Both the Rijksmuseum and the British Museum, who claim to have the best collections, have over 1,000 impressions of the 300-odd prints; most of these can be viewed in great detail online. The degree to which these collections are displayed to the public or can easily be viewed by them in the print room, varies greatly. The Morgan Library & Museum in New York claims to have the best collection in America, with "impressions of most of the three hundred or so known etchings by Rembrandt, as well as multiple, often exceedingly rare impressions of various states"; it has "almost 500" images online. Impressions often continued to be printed by others until at least the 19th-century, with many of the plates reworked as they became worn. In 1986, 79 of Rembrandt's Rembrandt's_prints#Copper_plates, original copper plates still existed.


Selected works

* ''The Entombment of Christ (Rembrandt), The Entombment of Christ'' () – Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow * '' The Stoning of Saint Stephen'' (1625) – Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon * ''Andromeda Chained to the Rocks'' (1630) – Mauritshuis, The Hague * ''Old Man with a Gold Chain'' () – Art Institute of Chicago * ''Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III, Jacob de Gheyn III'' (1632) – Dulwich Picture Gallery, London * ''Philosopher in Meditation'' (1632) – The Louvre, Paris * ''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'' (1632) – Mauritshuis, The Hague * ''Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes'' (1634) – Museo del Prado, Madrid * ''The Descent from the Cross (Rembrandt, 1634), Descent from the Cross'' (1634) – Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. * ''
Belshazzar's Feast Belshazzar's feast, or the story of the writing on the wall, chapter 5 in the Book of Daniel, tells how Neo-Babylonian royal Belshazzar holds a great feast and drinks from the vessels that had been looted in the destruction of the First Temple. ...
'' () – National Gallery, London * ''The Prodigal Son in the Tavern'' () –
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister The (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch and F ...
, Dresden
* ''Danaë (Rembrandt painting), Danaë'' (, reworked before 1643) – Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg * ''The Scholar at the Lectern'' (1641) – Royal Castle in Warsaw, Royal Castle, Warsaw * ''The Girl in a Picture Frame'' (1641) – Royal Castle, Warsaw * ''
The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' (), is a 1642 painting ...
'', formally ''The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq'' (1642) – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam * ''Boaz and Ruth (paintings), Boaz and Ruth'' (1643) – Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire & Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin * ''The Mill (Rembrandt), The Mill'' (1645/48) – National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. * ''Susanna and the Elders (Rembrandt), Susanna and the Elders'' (1647) – Gemäldegalerie, Berlin * ''Christ Healing the Sick,'' also known as the '' Hundred Guilder Print (')'' – Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio. Name derives from a print seller who claimed to have sold an impression of the print back to Rembrandt for 100 Guilders. * ''Head of Christ (Rembrandt), Head of Christ'' (1648) – Gemäldegalerie, Berlin * ''Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer'' (1653) – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York * ''The Three Crosses'' (1653) – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston * '' Bathsheba at Her Bath'' (1654) – The Louvre, Paris * ''Christ Presented to the People'' () – Various versions at different museums. One of the two largest prints made by Rembrandt. * ''Pallas Athena (Rembrandt), Pallas Athena'' () – Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon * ''Portrait of Dirck van Os'' () – Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska * ''Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar'' (1659) – National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. * ''Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther'' (1660) – Pushkin Museum, Moscow * '' The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'' () – Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. The majority of the original painting is now lost as Rembrandt cut it up in order for it to be sold. It is also his last secular history painting. * ''Syndics of the Drapers' Guild'' (1662) – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam * '' The Jewish Bride'' () – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam * ''Haman before Esther'' (1665) – National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest * ''Self-Portrait at the Age of 63'' (1669) – National Gallery, London. One of Rembrandt's last self-portraits. * ''The Return of the Prodigal Son (Rembrandt), The Return of the Prodigal Son'' (1669) – Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. One of Rembrandt's last paintings.


Exhibitions

* Sept–Oct 1898: ''Rembrandt Tentoonstelling'' (''Rembrandt Exhibition''), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. * Jan–Feb 1899: ''Rembrandt Tentoonstelling'' (''Rembrandt Exhibition''), Royal Academy, London. * 21 April 2011 – 18 July 2011: ''Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus'', Musée du Louvre. * 16 September 2013 – 14 November 2013: ''Rembrandt: The Consummate Etcher'', Syracuse University Art Galleries. * 19 May 2014 – 27 June 2014: ''From Rembrandt to Rosenquist: Works on Paper from the NAC's Permanent Collection'', National Arts Club. * 19 October 2014 – 4 January 2015: ''Rembrandt, Rubens, Gainsborough and the Golden Age of Painting in Europe'', Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art. * 15 October 2014 – 18 January 2015: ''Rembrandt: The Late Works'', The National Gallery, London. * 12 February 2015 – 17 May 2015: ''Late Rembrandt'', The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. * 16 September 2018 – 6 January 2019: ''Rembrandt – Painter as Printmaker'', Denver Art Museum, Denver. * 24 August 2019 – 1 December 2019: ''Leiden circa 1630: Rembrandt Emerges'', Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario. * 4 October 2019 – 2 February 2020: ''Rembrandt's Light'', Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. * 18 February 2020 – 30 August 2020: ''Rembrandt and Amsterdam portraiture, 1590–1670 '', Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. * 10 August 2020 – 1 November 2020: ''Young Rembrandt'', Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.


Paintings


Self-portraits

File:Self-portrait_(1628-1629),_by_Rembrandt.jpg, ''A young Rembrandt'' () when he was 22. Partly an exercise in
chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...
. Rijksmuseum File:Rembrandt van Rijn 184.jpg, ''Self-Portrait in a Gorget'' (), Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg File:Selfportrait_(Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_22374.tif, ''Self-portrait'' (1630), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm File:Rembrandt - Self-Portrait with Velvet Beret - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Velvet Beret and Furred Mantle'' (1634) File:Rembrandt1640.png, ''Self-Portrait at the Age of 34'' (1640), National Gallery London File:Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - Large Self-Portrait - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Self-Portrait (Rembrandt, Vienna), Self-Portrait'', an oil on canvas portrait (1652), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 132.jpg, ''Self-portrait'' (1655) an oil on walnut portrait cut down in size, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna File:Rembrant Self-Portrait, 1660.jpg, ''Self-portraits by Rembrandt, Self-Portrait'' (1660) File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 142.jpg, ''Self-Portrait as Zeuxis Laughing, Self Portrait as Zeuxis'' (), one of two self-portraits in which Rembrandt is turned to the left,White, 200 Wallraf–Richartz Museum, Cologne File:Rembrandt Self-portrait (Kenwood).jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Two Circles'' (–69), Kenwood House, London File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 134.jpg, ''Self-portrait'' (1669) File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 135.jpg, ''Self-Portrait at the Age of 63'' (1669, the year he died), National Gallery, London File:Rembrandt, Self-portrait, 1668–1669, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.jpg, Rembrandt, Self-portrait, 1668–69, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence


Other major paintings

File:Rembrandt-Lapidation-Saint-Étienne-MBA-Lyon.jpg, '' The Stoning of Saint Stephen'' (1625), Rembrandt's first painting completed at the age of 19, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. File:Rembrandt Two old men disputing 1628.jpg, ''Two old men disputing'' (1628) at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne File:Rembrandt The Artist in his studio.jpg, ''Artist in His Studio'' (1628) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston File:Rembrandt van Rijn - Borststuk van een oude man met bontmuts (1630).jpg, ''Bust of an old man with a fur hat'' (1630), a painting of Rembrandt's father File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Jeremia treurend over de verwoesting van Jeruzalem - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem'' (c. 1630) File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 011.jpg, ''Andromeda Chained to the Rocks, Andromeda'' (c. 1630) File:Rembrandt - The Philosopher in Meditation.jpg, ''The Philosopher in Meditation'' (c. 1632) File:Rembrandt - The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp.jpg, ''
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp ''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'' is a 1632 oil painting on canvas by Rembrandt housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. It was originally created to be displayed by the Surgeons Guild in their meeting room. The p ...
'' (c. 1632) File:Aeltje Uylenburgh, by Rembrandt.jpg, ''Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh'' (1632) at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston File:Rembrandt - Portrait of a young woman - Allentown.jpg, ''Portrait of a Young Woman'' (1632) at Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania File:Rembrandt, Portrait of Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612–1642), circa 1633–1634, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel.jpg, ''Portrait of Saskia van Uylenburgh'' (c. 1633–34) File:Harmensz van Rijn Rembrandt - Флора - Google Art Project.jpg, Flora (Rembrandt, Hermitage), ''Flora'' (1634), Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia File:Rembrandt Abraham en Isaac, 1634.jpg, ''The Sacrifice of Isaac (Rembrandt), Sacrifice of Isaac'' (1634), Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia File:Rembrandt - The Abduction of Ganymede - Google Art Project - cropped.jpg, ''The Rape of Ganymede (Rembrandt), The Rape of Ganymede'' (1635), Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden File:The Blinding of Samson (SM 1383).png, ''
The Blinding of Samson ''The Blinding of Samson'' is a 1636 painting by Rembrandt, now in the Städel (in Frankfurt). The painting is the first of its kind in pictorial tradition. No other artist at the time had painted this specific narrative moment. This painting ...
'' (1636), which Rembrandt gave to Huyghens File:Suzanna, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1636, Mauritshuis, The Hague.jpg, ''Susanna'' (1636) File:Rembrandt-Belsazar.jpg, ''Belshazzar's Feast (Rembrandt), Belshassar's Feast'' (c. 1636–38) File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 026.jpg, ''Danaë (Rembrandt painting), Danaë'' (c. 1636–43), Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia File:Rembrandt De aartsengel verlaat Tobias en zijn gezin. 1637.jpg, ''The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias' Family'' (1637), Louvre File:Landscape with the Good Samaritan - Rembrandt.jpg, ''Landscape with the Good Samaritan, The Landscape with Good Samaritan'' (1638), Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland File:Rembrandt Scholar at the Lectern.jpg, ''The Scholar at the Lectern, Scholar at his Writing Table'' (1641), Royal Castle, Warsaw File:Rembrandt van Rijn 195.jpg, ''Joseph's Dream (Rembrandt, 1645), Joseph's Dream'' (c. 1645) File:Rembrandt - Susanna and the Elders - WGA19104.jpg, ''Susanna and the Elders (Rembrandt), Susanna and the Elders'' (1647) File:Rembrandt van Rijn - The Mill - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Mill (Rembrandt), The Mill'' (1648) File:Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - An Old Man in Red.JPG, ''An Old Man in Red'' (c. 1652–54), Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 013.jpg, ''
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer ''Aristotle with a Bust of Homer'' (), also known as ''Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer'', is an oil-on-canvas painting by Rembrandt that depicts Aristotle wearing a gold chain and contemplating a sculpted Bust (sculpture), bust of Homer. I ...
'' (1653), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York File:The Kitchen Maid (Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn) - Nationalmuseum - 17587.tif, ''The Kitchen Maid (Rembrandt), Young Girl at the Window'' (1654), Nationalmuseum,Stockholm File:JanSix.jpg, ''Portrait of Jan Six'', a painting of a wealthy friend of Rembrandt (1654) File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 016.jpg, '' Bathsheba at Her Bath'', modelled by Hendrickje (1654) File:A Woman Bathing in a Stream by Rembrandt.jpg, ''A Woman Bathing in a Stream'', modelled by Hendrickje (1654) File:Pallas Athena by Rembrandt Museu Calouste Gulbenkian 1488.jpg, ''Pallas Athene (Rembrandt), Pallas Athene'' (c. 1655) File:Dr Deijman’s Anatomy Lesson (fragment), by Rembrandt.jpg, ''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman'' (1656) File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 062.jpg, ''Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph (Rembrandt), Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph'' (1656) File:Rembrandt - Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Woman in a Doorway'' (1657–58) File:Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn - Ahasuerus, Haman and Esther - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther'' (1660), Pushkin Museum, Moscow File:Rembrandt - The Incredulity of St Thomas - WGA19095.jpg, ''The Incredulity of St Thomas'' (1660), Pushkin Museum, Moscow File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch - St. Bartholomew) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Saint Bartholomew'' (1661), J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu File:Netherlands-4183 - The Syndics, Rembrandt.jpg, ''The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild'' (1662) File:The Conspiracy of the Batavians under Claudius Civilis (Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn) - Nationalmuseum - 17581.tif, '' The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'' (cut-down) (1661–62) File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Lucretia - 34.19 - Minneapolis Institute of Arts.jpg, ''Lucretia (Rembrandt, 1666), Lucretia'' (1666), Minneapolis Institute of Art File:Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn - Return of the Prodigal Son - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Return of the Prodigal Son (Rembrandt), The Return of the Prodigal Son'' (), Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia


Drawings and etchings

File:Rembrandt van Rijn - Zelfportret.jpg, ''Self-portrait'', –29, pen and brush and ink on paper File:B320 Rembrandt.jpg, ''Self-portrait in a cap, with eyes wide open'', 1630, etching and burin File:Rembrandt Seated Old Man.jpg, ''Seated Old Man'' (c. 1630), red and black chalk on paper, Nationalmuseum, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm File:Rembrandt Susanna Zeichnung.jpg, ''Suzannah and the Elders'', 1634, drawing in Sanguine on paper, Kupferstichkabinett Berlin File:Self-portrait with Saskia.jpg, ''Self-portrait with Saskia'', 1636, etching File:Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - An Elephant, 1637 - Google Art Project.jpg, ''An elephant'', 1637, drawing in black chalk on paper, Albertina, Austria File:Self portrait leaning on si 373x470.jpg, ''Self-portrait leaning on a Sill'', 1639, etching File:Jesus und Ehebrecherin.jpg, ''Christ and the woman taken in adultery'', c. 1639–41, drawing in ink, Louvre File:Rembrandt Beggars I.jpg, ''Beggars I.'', c. 1640–42, ink on paper, Warsaw University Library File:Rembrandt - The windmill - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Windmill'', 1641, etching File:Rembrandt 254.jpg, ''The Diemerdijk at Houtewael'' (near Amsterdam), 1648–49, pen and brown ink, brown wash, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Christ Crucified Between the Two Thieves ("The Three Crosses") - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Rembrandt's The Three Crosses, The Three Crosses'', 1653, drypoint etching, State (printmaking), state III of V File:Virgin and child with cat.jpg, ''Virgin and Child with a Cat'', 1654, original copper etching plate above (the original copper plate), in Victoria and Albert Museum, example of the print below File:Rembrandt Christus aan het volk getoond.jpg, ''Christ presented to the People'',
drypoint Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically iden ...
etching, 1655, state I of VIII File:Rembrandt Two Jews in Discussion, Walking.jpg, ''Two Old Men in Conversation /Two Jews in Discussion, Walking'', year unknown, black chalk and brown ink on paper, Teylers Museum File:Rembrandt A Child Being Taught to Walk.jpg, A child being taught to walk (c. 1635) File:Amsterdam - Late Rembrandt Exposition 2015 - Young Woman Sleeping 1654 B (cropped).jpg, ''A young woman sleeping'' (c. 1654). Shows Rembrandt's calligraphic-style draughtsmanship.Mendelowitz, Daniel Marcus: ''Drawing''. (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc., 1967), p. 305.Sullivan, Michael: ''The Meeting of Eastern and Western Art''. (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989), p. 91


Works about Rembrandt


Literary works (e.g. poetry and fiction)

* ''To the Picture of Rembrandt'', a Russian-language poem by Mikhail Lermontov, 1830 * ''Gaspard de la Nuit (poetry collection), Gaspard de la nuit: Fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot'', a series of French-language poems by Aloysius Bertrand, 1842 * ''Picture This (novel), Picture This'', a novel by Joseph Heller, 1988 * ''Moi, la Putain de Rembrandt'', a French-language novel by Sylvie Matton, 1998 * ''Van Rijn'', a novel by Sarah Emily Miano, 2006 * ''I Am Rembrandt's Daughter'', a novel by Lynn Cullen, 2007 * ''The Rembrandt Affair'', a novel by Daniel Silva (novelist), Daniel Silva, 2011 * ''The Anatomy Lesson'', a novel by Nina Siegal, 2014 * ''Rembrandt's Mirror'', a novel by Kim Devereux, 2015


Music

*The Donna Summer song ''Dinner with Gershwin'' contain the lyrics "I want to watch Rembrandt sketch." *The Scott Walker (singer) song Duchess features the lyrics "It's your Bicycle bells / and your Rembrandt swells" *The Song on the Dreamville Album Revenge of the Dreamers III "Rembrand... Run it Back"


Films

* ''The Stolen Rembrandt'', a 1914 film directed by Leo D. Maloney and J. P. McGowan * ''The Tragedy of a Great'' / ''Die Tragödie eines Großen'', a 1920 film directed by Arthur Günsburg * ''The Missing Rembrandt'', a 1932 film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott * ''Rembrandt (1936 film), Rembrandt'', a 1936 film directed by Alexander Korda * ''Rembrandt (1940 film), Rembrandt'', a 1940 film * ''Rembrandt in de schuilkelder'' / ''Rembrandt in the Bunker'', a 1941 film directed by Gerard Rutten * ''Rembrandt (1942 film), Rembrandt'', a 1942 film directed by Hans Steinhoff * ''Rembrandt: A Self-Portrait'', a 1954 documentary film by Morrie Roizman * ''Rembrandt, schilder van de mens'' / ''Rembrandt, Painter of Man'', a 1957 film directed by Bert Haanstra * ''Rembrandt fecit 1669'', a 1977 film directed by Jos Stelling * ''Rembrandt: The Public Eye and the Private Gaze'', a 1992 documentary film by
Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...
* ''Rembrandt (1999 film), Rembrandt'', a 1999 film directed by Charles Matton * ', a 1999 film directed by David Devine * ''Stealing Rembrandt'', a 2003 film directed by Jannik Johansen and Anders Thomas Jensen * ''Simon Schama's Power of Art: Rembrandt'', a 2006 BBC documentary film series by Simon Schama * ''Nightwatching'', a 2007 film directed by Peter Greenaway * ''Rembrandt's J'Accuse'', a 2008 documentary film by Peter Greenaway * ', a 2011 film directed by Marleen Gorris * ''Schama on Rembrandt: Masterpieces of the Late Years'', a 2014 documentary film by Simon Schama


Notes


References


Works cited

* Ackley, Clifford, et al., ''Rembrandt's Journey'', Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2004. * * Bomford, D. et al., Art in the making: Rembrandt, New edition, Yale University Press, 2006 * Bull, Duncan, et al., ''Rembrandt-Caravaggio'', Rijksmuseum, 2006. * Buvelot, Quentin, White, Christopher (eds), ''Rembrandt by himself'', 1999, National Gallery * * Kenneth Clark, Clark, Kenneth, ''An Introduction to Rembrandt'', 1978, London, John Murray/Readers Union, 1978 * * Driessen, Christoph, ''Rembrandts vrouwen'', Bert Bakker, Amsterdam, 2012. * * Ernst Gombrich, Gombrich, E.H., ''The Story of Art'', Phaidon, 1995. *Hinterding, Eric, Luijten, Ger, Royalton-Kisch, Martin, ''Rembrandt the Printmaker'', 2000, British Museum Press/Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, * * ''The Complete Etchings of Rembrandt Reproduced in Original Size'', Gary Schwartz (editor). New York: Dover, 1988. * Slive, Seymour (1995), Dutch Painting, 1600–1800, Yale UP, 1995, * Ernst van de Wetering, van de Wetering, Ernst in ''Rembrandt by himself'', 1999 National Gallery, London/Mauritshuis, The Hague, * Ernst van de Wetering, van de Wetering, Ernst, ''Rembrandt: The Painter at Work'', Amsterdam University Press, 2000. * White, Christopher, ''The Late Etchings of Rembrandt'', 1999, British Museum/Lund Humphries, London


Further reading

* Catalogue raisonné: Stichting Foundation Rembrandt Research Project: ** ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings – Volume I'', which deals with works from Rembrandt's early years in Leiden (1629–1631), 1982 ** ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings – Volume II: 1631–1634''. Bruyn, J., Haak, B. (et al.), Band 2, 1986, ** ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings – Volume III, 1635–1642''. Bruyn, J., Haak, B., Levie, S.H., Pieter J.J. van Thiel, van Thiel, P.J.J., van de Wetering, E. (Ed. Hrsg.), Band 3, 1990, ** ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings – Volume IV''.
Ernst van de Wetering Ernst van de Wetering (9 March 1938 – 11 August 2021) was a Dutch art historian and an expert on Rembrandt and his work. Background Ernst van de Wetering was born in Hengelo. He was first trained as an artist at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts ...
, Karin Groen et al. Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands. . p. 692. (Self-Portraits) * ''Rembrandt. Images and metaphors'', Christian Tümpel, Christian and Astrid Tümpel (editors), Haus Books London 2006 *


External links


A biography of the artist Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn from the National Gallery, London

Works and literature on Rembrandt from Pubhist.com

The Drawings of Rembrandt: a revision of Otto Benesch's catalogue raisonné by Martin Royalton-Kisch (in progress)

Rembrandt's house in Amsterdam
Site of the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam, with images of many of his etchings * *
Rembrandt van Rijn, General Resources

The transparent connoisseur 3: the 30 million pound question
by Gary Schwartz (art historian), Gary Schwartz
The Rembrandt Database
research data on the paintings, including the full contents of the first volumes of ''A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings'' by the Rembrandt Research Project
Some Rembrandt drawings
at the Albertina
Die Urkunden über Rembrandt
by C. Hofstede de Groot (1906). {{Authority control (arts) Rembrandt, 1606 births 1669 deaths Art collectors from Amsterdam Artists from Leiden Dutch art dealers Dutch Christians Dutch draughtsmen Dutch etchers 17th-century etchers Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch Golden Age printmakers Dutch male painters Dutch portrait painters Dutch printmakers Engravers from Amsterdam Leiden University alumni Painters from Amsterdam People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar 17th-century Dutch painters