Unlike most Dutch painters of the 17th century, Rembrandt's works depict a wide range of styles and subject matter, fromportraits and self-portraits to landscapes,genre scenes, allegorical and historical scenes, biblical and mythological subjects and animal studies. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call theDutch Golden Age.
Rembrandt never went abroad but was considerably influenced by the work of the ItalianOld Masters andDutch 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,[4] and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters.[5] Rembrandt's portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible are regarded as his greatest creative triumphs. His approximately40 self-portraits form an intimate autobiography.[3][6]
Rembrandt[a] Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden,[1] in theDutch Republic, now theNetherlands. He was the ninth child born to Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuijtbrouck.[8] His family was quite well-to-do; his father was amiller and his mother was a baker's daughter. His mother wasCatholic, and his father belonged to theDutch Reformed Church. 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.[9]
In 1625, Rembrandt opened a studio in Leiden, which he shared with friend and colleagueJan Lievens. In 1627, Rembrandt began to accept students, among themGerrit Dou andIsaac de Jouderville.[12]Joan Huydecoper is mentioned as the first buyer of a Rembrandt painting in 1628.[13] In 1629, Rembrandt was discovered by the statesmanConstantijn Huygens who procured for Rembrandt important commissions from the court of The Hague. As a result of this connection, PrinceFrederik Hendrik continued to purchase paintings from Rembrandt.[14]
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.[15] Saskia came from a respected family: her fatherRombertus was a lawyer and had beenburgomaster (mayor) of Leeuwarden. The couple married in the local church ofSt. Annaparochie without the presence of Rembrandt's relatives.[16] In the same year, Rembrandt became acitizen of Amsterdam and a member of the localguild of painters. He also acquired a number of students, among themFerdinand Bol andGovert Flinck.[17]
In 1635, Rembrandt and Saskia rented a fashionable lodging with a view of the river Amstel.[18] In 1637, Rembrandt moved upriver toVlooienburg, in a building on the previous site of the currentStopera.[19] In May 1639 they moved to a recently modernized house in the upscale'Breestraat' with artists and art dealers;Nicolaes Pickenoy, a portrait painter, was his neighbor. Themortgage to finance the 13,000guilder purchase would be a cause for later financial difficulties.[b][17] 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.[22] One of the great patrons at the early stages of his career was Amsterdam statesmanAndries de Graeff.[23][24]
Although they were by now affluent, the couple suffered several personal setbacks; three children died within weeks of their births.[c][d] Only their fourth child,Titus, who was born in 1641, survived into adulthood. Saskia died in 1642, probably fromtuberculosis. Rembrandt's drawings of her on her sick and death bed are among his most moving works.[26][18] After Saskia's illness, the widowGeertje 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 withbreach of promise and asked to be awardedalimony.[17] 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.[27][28] As Dircx broke her promise, Rembrandt and members of Dircx's own family had her committed to a women's house of correction atGouda in August 1650. Rembrandt also took measures to ensure she stayed in the house of correction for as long as possible.[29] Rembrandt paid for the costs.[30][e]
In early 1649, Rembrandt began a relationship with the 23-year-oldHendrickje Stoffels, 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.[31] In 1654 Rembrandt painted a nudeBathsheba 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 receivingcommunion.[32] Rembrandt was not summoned to appear for the Church council.[33] 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.[26]
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 forinstallments but Rembrandt, facing financial strain, sought a postponement. The house required repairs prompting Rembrandt to borrow money from friends, includingJan Six.[34][f]
In November 1655, amid a year overshadowed byplague 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.[37][38] In December Rembrandt orchestrated a sale of his paintings, yet the earnings failed to meet expectations.[39] This tumultuous period deeply impacted the art industry, prompting Rembrandt to seek a high court arrangement known ascessio bonorum.[40] Despite the financial difficulties, Rembrandt's bankruptcy was not forced.[39][41] In July 1656, he declared hisinsolvency, taking stock and willingly surrendered his assets.[42] Notably, he had already transferred the house to his son.[21] Both the authorities and his creditors showed leniency, granting him ample time to settle his debts.Jacob J. Hinlopen allegedly played a role.[43]
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 includingRaphael,Mantegna andGiorgione.[g] Remarkably, Rembrandt was permitted to retain his tools as a means of generating income.[21] 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.[44]
The sale list comprising 363 items offers insight into Rembrandt's diverse collections, which encompassedOld Master paintings, drawings, busts ofRoman emperors, statues ofGreek philosophers, books (a bible), twoglobes, bonnets,armor, and various objects from Asia (porcelain), as well as a collections ofnatural history specimens (two lion skins, abird-of-paradise,corals and minerals).[45] Unfortunately, the prices realized in the sale were disappointing.[46]
Rembrandt moved to Rozengracht 184, Stadsarchief Amsterdam
Two weeks later, Hendrickje and Titus established adummy corporation as art dealers, allowing Rembrandt, who hadboard and lodging, to continue his artistic pursuits.[51][52] In 1661, they secured a contract for a major project at the newly completedtown hall. The resulting work,The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis, was rejected bythe mayors and returned to the painter within a few weeks; the surviving fragment (in Stockholm) is only a quarter of the original.[53]
Despite these setbacks, Rembrandt continued to receive significant portrait commissions and completed notable works, such as theSampling Officials in 1662.[54] It remains a challenge to gauge Rembrandt's wealth accurately as he may have overestimated the value of his art collection.[42] Nonetheless, half of his assets were earmarked for Titus' inheritance.[55]
In March 1663, with Hendrickje's illness, Titus assumed a more prominent role. Isaac van Hertsbeeck, Rembrandt's primary creditor, went to theHigh Court and contested Titus' priority for payment, leading to legal battles that Titus ultimately won in 1665 when he came of age.[56][57][58] During this time, Rembrandt worked on notable pieces likethe Jewish Bride and his final self-portraits but struggled with rent arrears.[59] Notably,Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, visited Rembrandt twice, and returned to Florence with one of the self-portraits.[60]
Rembrandt outlived bothHendrickje and Titus; he died on Friday 4 October 1669 and was buried four days later in a rented grave in theWesterkerk.[61] Hisillegitimate child, Cornelia (1654–1684), eventually moved toBatavia in 1670 accompanied by an obscure painter and her mother's inheritance.[62] Titus' considerable inheritance passed to his only child, Titia (1669-1715) who married her cousin and lived atBlauwburgwal.[63] Rembrandt's life was marked by more than just artistic achievements; he navigated numerous legal and financial challenges, leaving a complex legacy.[64][65]
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 fromde 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.[66]
Earlier 20th century connoisseurs claimed Rembrandt had produced well over 600 paintings,[67] nearly 400 etchings and 2,000 drawings.[68] More recent scholarship, from the 1960s to the present day (led by theRembrandt Research Project), often controversially, has winnowed his oeuvre to nearer 300 paintings.[h] Hisprints, traditionally all called etchings, although many are produced in whole or part byengraving and sometimesdrypoint, have a much more stable total of slightly under 300.[i] It is likely Rembrandt made many more drawings in his lifetime than 2,000 but those extant are rarer than presumed.[j] 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.[71]
At one time, approximately 90 paintings were counted asRembrandt 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.[72] 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.[k]
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.[73]
Winter Landscape, 1646, his only composition in this genre
In some of his biblical works, includingThe Raising of the Cross,Joseph Telling His Dreams, andThe 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".[74]
Among the more prominent characteristics of Rembrandt's work are his use ofchiaroscuro, the theatrical employment of light and shadow derived fromCaravaggio, or, more likely, from theDutch Caravaggisti but adapted for very personal means.[75] 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,[76] many of which hadmythical, biblical or historical subjects.[77]
Throughout his career, Rembrandt took as his most common subjects portraits, narrative or "history paintings", mostly biblical, andlandscapes. He was especially praised by his contemporaries for his biblical subjects, for his skill in representing emotions, and attention to detail.[79] 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.[80]
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.[81]
Portrait of Haesje Jacobsdr. van Cleyburg from Rotterdam (1634) completed during the height of his commercial success
Lastman's influence on Rembrandt was most prominent during his period in Leiden from 1625 to 1631.[82] Paintings were rather small but rich in details (for example, in costumes and jewelry). Religious andallegorical subjects were favored, as weretronies.[82] In 1626 Rembrandt produced his first etchings, the wide dissemination of which would largely account for his international fame.[82] In 1629, he completedJudas Repentant, Returning the Pieces of Silver andThe 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.[83]
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, 1636,Belshazzar's Feast, c. 1635Danaë, 1636 but reworked later), seeking to emulate the baroque style ofRubens.[84] 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, 1632).[85]
Rembrandt van Rijn – Self-Portrait with a flat cap (1642)Royal Collection
By the late 1630s, Rembrandt had produced a few paintings and many etchings oflandscapes. Often these landscapes highlighted natural drama, featuring uprooted trees and ominous skies (Cottages before a Stormy Sky, c. 1641;The Three Trees, 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 theNew Testament than theOld Testament, as had been the case before. In 1642 he paintedThe Night Watch, 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.[86]
In the decade following theNight 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).[87] At the same time, there was a marked decrease in painted works in favor of etchings and drawings of landscapes.[88]
Self Portrait (1658), nowFrick Collection, New York, has been described as "the calmest and grandest of all his portraits".[89]
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 ofTitian, 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.[90] 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.[91]
In later years,biblical 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.[92][93]
Rembrandt producedetchings 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.[94] He took easily to etching and, though he learned to use aburin and partlyengraved 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.[95]
He worked on the so-calledHundred 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.[96] Although the print only survives in twostates, the first very rare, evidence of much reworking can be seen underneath the final print and many drawings survive for elements of it.[97]
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 usedhatching 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, includingJapanese paper, which he used frequently, and onvellum. He began to use "surface tone", 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 ofdrypoint, exploiting, especially in landscapes, the rich fuzzy burr that this technique gives to the first few impressions.[98]
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.[99] 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.[100] Rembrandt owned, until forced to sell it, a magnificent collection of works by other artists. He was influenced by artists includingCaravaggio with his chiaroscuro lighting.[101] Borrowings and influences in his work can be traced to artists as diverse asAndrea Mantegna (with hisEntombment),[102]Anthony van Dyck,Raphael,Titian,Peter Paul Rubens,[103]Hercules Seghers,[104] andGiovanni Benedetto Castiglione.[105]
Drawings by Rembrandt andhis pupils/followers have been extensively studied by many artists and scholars[l] through the centuries.
Rembrandt was interested inMughal 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 ofShah Jahan,Akbar,Jahangir andDara Shikoh and may have influenced the costumes and other aspects of his works.[112][113][114][115]
The Night Watch orThe Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (1642), an oil on canvas portrait nowRijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Rembrandt paintedThe Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, known asThe Night Watch, between 1640 and 1642, and it became his most famous work.[116][117] The piece was commissioned for the new hall of theKloveniersdoelen, the musketeer branch of thecivic militia.[117] 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.[118]
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 likeThe School of Athens byRaphael, and has been seen as humorous or parodic.[118] 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.[118]
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 newcatalogue raisonné 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.[119]
One example of activity isThe Polish Rider, now in theFrick Collection 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, 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, 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 bookRembrandt's Eyes,Simon Schama 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.[120]
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 inAristotle with a Bust of Homer, recently retitled by curators at the Metropolitan Museum, has been directly challenged by Schama applying the scholarship of Paul Crenshaw.[122] Schama presents a substantial argument that it was the famous ancient Greek painterApelles who is depicted in contemplation by Rembrandt and not Aristotle.[123]
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.[124]
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 andStudy of an Old Man with a Beard from a US private collection,Study of a Weeping Woman, owned by theDetroit Institute of Arts, andPortrait of an Elderly Woman in a White Bonnet, painted in 1640.[125] TheOld Man Sitting in a Chair is a further example: in 2014, ProfessorErnst van de Wetering offered his view toThe Guardian that the demotion of the 1652 paintingOld 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 byNigel Konstam who studied Rembrandt throughout his career.[126]
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.[127] As well, there were later imitations of his work, and restorations which so seriously damaged the original works that they are no longer recognizable.[128]
The book by Bomford[133] 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.[135] 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.[136]
"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 theRhine.[137]
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).[138]
Apart from a few very rare prints, mostly less important early studies,[148] or "the informal printed scribbles from the artist's early years",[149] most of his prints are not very rare by museum standards, and majorprint 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;[150] 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.[151]
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'soriginal copper plates still existed.[152]
Christ Healing the Sick, also known as theHundred Guilder Print (c. 1648)–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.
^This version of his first name, "Rembrandt" with a "d," first appeared in his signatures in 1633. Until then, he had signed with a combination of initials or monograms. In late 1632, he began signing solely with his first name, "Rembrant". He added the "d" in the following year and stuck to this spelling for the rest of his life. Although scholars can only speculate, this change must have had a meaning for Rembrandt, which is generally interpreted as his wanting to be known by his first name like the great figures of the Italian Renaissance: Leonardo, Raphael etc., who did not sign with their last names, if at all.[7]
^Rembrandt promised the owner—a woman with mental problems—to pay a quarter of the purchase price within a year;[20] the rest within five to six years. For some reason the purchase was not registered at the town hall and had to be renewed in 1653.[21]
^Their son Rombartus died two months after his birth and their daughter Cornelia died at just three weeks of age. A second daughter, also named Cornelia, died after living barely over a month.
^His children were christened in Dutch Reformed churches in Amsterdam: four in theOld Church and Titus, in theSouthern Church.[25]
^Five years later he did not support her release without the presence of her brother, a sailor. In August 1656 Geertghe Dircx was listed as one of Rembrandt's seven major creditors.
^Quite a few people were in debt after theFirst Anglo-Dutch War.[35] The Dutch were driven fromBrazil too; the 'Brazilian Adventure' cost the Dutch merchant community dearly.[36]
^Useful totals of the figures from various different oeuvre catalogues, often divided into classes along the lines of: "very likely authentic", "possibly authentic" and "unlikely to be authentic" are given atthe Online Rembrandt catalogue[69]
^Two hundred years ago Bartsch listed 375. More recent catalogues have added three (two in unique impressions) and excluded enough to reach totals as follows: Schwartz, pp. 6, 289; Münz 1952, 279; Boon 1963, 287Print Council of America – but Schwartz's total quoted does not tally with the book.
^It is not possible to give a total, as a new wave of scholarship on Rembrandt drawings is still in progress – analysis of the Berlin collection for an exhibition in 2006/7 has produced a probable drop from 130 sheets there to about 60.Codart.nl[70] The British Museum is due to publish a new catalogue after a similar exercise.
^While the popular interpretation is that these paintings represent a personal and introspective journey, it is possible that they were painted to satisfy a market for self-portraits by prominent artists. Van de Wetering, p. 290.
^Crenshaw, Paul (2006).Rembrandt's bankruptcy: the artist, his patrons, and the art market in seventeenth-century Nederlands. Cambridge: University Press.ISBN978-0521858250.OCLC902528433.
^Dehing, P. (2012). Geld in Amsterdam. Wisselbank en wisselkoersen, 1650–1725. [Universiteit van Amsterdam], p. 142
^Professor P. C. Emmer, review of The Rise of Commercial Empires England and the Netherlands in the Age of Mercantilism, 1650–1770, (review no. 345)https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/345 Date accessed: 26 March 2023
^"In Rembrandt's (late) great portraits we feel face to face with real people, we sense their warmth, their need for sympathy and also their loneliness and suffering. Those keen and steady eyes that we know so well from Rembrandt's self-portraits must have been able to look straight into the human heart." Gombrich, p. 423.
^"It (The Jewish Bride) is a picture of grown-up love, a marvelous amalgam of richness, tenderness, and trust... the heads which, in their truth, have a spiritual glow that painters influenced by the classical tradition could never achieve." Clark, p. 206.
^See "Further Battles for the 'Lisowczyk' (Polish Rider) by Rembrandt" Zdzislaw Zygulski, Jr.,Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 21, No. 41 (2000), pp. 197–205. AlsoNew York TimesstoryArchived 8 January 2008 at theWayback Machine. There is a book on the subject:Responses to Rembrandt; Who painted the Polish Rider? by Anthony Bailey (New York, 1993)
^Kühn, Hermann. 'Untersuchungen zu den Pigmenten und Malgründen Rembrandts, durchgeführt an den Gemälden der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden'(Examination of pigments and grounds used by Rembrandt, analysis carried out on paintings in the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden), Maltechnik/Restauro, issue 4 (1977): 223–233
^Kühn, Hermann. 'Untersuchungen zu den Pigmenten und Malgründen Rembrandts, durchgeführt an den Gemälden der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Kassel' (Examination of pigments and grounds used by Rembrandt, analysis carried out on paintings in the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Kassel), Maltechnik/Restauro, volume 82 (1976): 25–33
^Van Loon, A., Noble, P., Krekeler, A., van der Snickt, G., Janssens, K., Abe, Y., Nakai, I., & Dik, J. 2017. "Artificial orpiment, a new pigment in Rembrandt's palette". Heritage Science, 5 (26)
^Clark 1974, pp. 147–150. See the catalogue in Further reading for the location of all accepted Rembrandts (at that time)
^G. Schwartz (1987) Rembrandt, zijn leven, zijn schilderen.
^"The Lanckoroński Collection – Rembrandt's Paintings".zamek-krolewski.pl. Archived fromthe original on 20 May 2014. Retrieved20 May 2014.The works of art which Karolina Lanckorońska gave to the Royal Castle in 1994 was one of the most invaluable gift's made in the museum's history.
^"Rembrandt". Rijksmuseum. Retrieved26 February 2025.Artworks (1745 [pieces])
^"Rembrandt".British Museum. Retrieved26 February 2025.3,210 Related objects though the majority of both of these are prints
^"Collection". Rembrandt House Museum. 9 January 2023. Retrieved26 February 2025.The Rembrandt House Museum has built up a large collection of artworks of not only paintings and drawings, but also almost all of Rembrandt's etchings.
^For example Hinterding et al., no. 2, with 2 impressions known; unique or very rare states of prints are more frequent.
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,ISBN978-90-247-3339-2
A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings – Volume III, 1635–1642. Bruyn, J., Haak, B., Levie, S.H.,van Thiel, P.J.J., van de Wetering, E. (Ed. Hrsg.), Band 3, 1990,ISBN978-90-247-3781-9
A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings – Volume IV.Ernst van de Wetering, Karin Groen et al. Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.ISBN1-4020-3280-3. p. 692. (Self-Portraits)
The Rembrandt Database research data on the paintings, including the full contents of the first volumes ofA Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings by the Rembrandt Research Project
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![Self Portrait as Zeuxis (c. 1662), one of two self-portraits in which Rembrandt is turned to the left,[166] Wallraf–Richartz Museum, Cologne](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_142.jpg)
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![The Stoning of Saint Stephen (1625), Rembrandt's first painting completed at the age of 19,[167] Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRembrandt-Lapidation-Saint-%25C3%2589tienne-MBA-Lyon.jpg)
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![A young woman sleeping (c. 1654). Shows Rembrandt's calligraphic-style draughtsmanship.[168][169]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAmsterdam_-_Late_Rembrandt_Exposition_2015_-_Young_Woman_Sleeping_1654_B_(cropped).jpg)
