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Rembrandt
Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15th July, 1606, in Leiden, the eighth
of nine children of Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn and his wife, Neeltje van
Suijttbroeck. He was the first and the only of their sons whom they sent
to the school for Latin. After seven years’ schooling (1613-1620), Rembrandt
entered the Philosophical Faculty of Leiden University to study Classics.
A short period at the university finished with starting a period of apprenticeship
(1622-24) under the Italy-trained painter Jacob Isaacszoon van Swanenburgh.
However, the succeeding half-year studies under Pieter Lastman, the Amsterdam
artist of historical paintings, influenced Rembrandt’s work much deeper.
In 1625 the 19-year-old Rembrandt returned to Leiden and opened his own
studio, which he shared with his friend of the same age, Jan Lievens. Rembrandt
executed historical paintings, initially following Lastman’s models: Tobit
and Anna (1626), The Ass of
Balaam Talking before the Angel. (1626). His physiognomic studies,
resulted in numerous self-portraits: Self-Portrait.
(c. 1629), Self-Portrait with Wide-Open
Eyes. (1630). During his lifetime Rembrandt executed more than
100 self-portraits. He also produced many engravings and etchings.
The turning point in Rembrandt’s further career was the visit to Leiden
of Constantijn Huygens, the widely educated secretary of the governor Prince
Frederick Hendrick, who developed great interest in Rembrandt and his art.
Huygens’ patronage led to commissions and initial success: two works by
Rembrandt were purchased by the English Crown and many copies of his painting
Judas
Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver and the Raising
of Lazarus were soon published.
After his father’s death on 27th April 1630, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam,
where he settled in the house of the art-dealer, Hendrick van Uylenburgh.
Prince Frederick Hendrick bought a number of his paintings and commissioned
the Passion cycle, which he would finish in 1639. In 1632, Rembrandt also
received the commission to paint a portrait of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, the famous
Amsterdam surgeon. Wining acclaim with this work, Rembrandt became a fashionable
portraitist in Amsterdam and started to receive many commissions for portraits
of well-to-do patricians. One of his favorite themes, the meditating Philosopher,
appeared in his work as early as about 1633. The
Prophet Jeremiah Mourning over the Destruction of Jerusalem.
(1630): Rembrandt has used the blunt end of his brush to scratch details
of the foliage, Jeremiah’s beard and the fastenings of his tunic in the
wet paint, a characteristic technique of his early years.
In 1634, Rembrandt became a member of the Guild of St. Luke, in order that
he may train pupils and apprentices as a self-employed master. Rembrandt
was popular as a teacher and had a very large and profitable workshop with
many student followers, including such outstanding painters as Gerard Dou,
Aert
de Gelder, Carel Fabritius, Philips
Konink, Ferdinand Bol, Govert Flinck and Nicolaes
Maes.
The same year he married Saskia van Uylenburgh, niece of his art-dealer
and daughter of a wealthy patrician. Despite their deep devotion and love
to each other, their happiness was overshadowed with the deaths of their
new-born children and quarrels with Saskia’s relatives, who accused her
of squandering money. Of their 4 children only their son Titus, born in
September 1641, survived to his adulthood. Titus’ features appear in a
number of painting by Rembrandt: The Artist's
Son Titus at His Desk. (1655), Titus.
(c.1658).
As if in plea to let her son live, Saskia died the next year in June. Her
death caused a deep crisis in Rembrandt’s life.
During the years of their mutual life Rembrandt created such masterpieces
as The Abduction of Ganymede.
(1635), The Angel Stopping Abraham from
Sacrificing Isaac to God. (1635), The
Feast of Belshazzar. (c. 1635), The
Blinding of Samson. (1636), Danae.
(1636), The Prodigal Son in the Tavern
(Rembrandt and Saskia). (c. 1635), The
Night Watch (1642) and others. The Night Watch,
maybe is the most famous Rembrandt’s work, and his the largest one (12x15ft;
3.5x4.5m), was commissioned by a company of the Civil Guard of Amsterdam
for its assembly hall. The painting is a “recapitulation of the ideals
of Rembrandt’s first ten Amsterdam years, and is the last painting in which
he strives for brilliant external effects. From now on he set himself the
aim of recreating in visual terms the intangible essence of man, his inner
life”. In his last two decades Rembrandt simplified his compositions, preferring
more classical and stable structure.
To help the widowed father, two women, Geertge Dircx and, a little later,
Hendrickje Stoffels, were admitted in the household. Eventually Geertge
caused the artist troubles: at first she repeatedly quarreled with him
until at last she brought him to the court (in 1649) on the grounds of
an unfulfilled promise of marriage. The second woman, Hendrickje, testified
against the plaintiff, and Geertge was sentenced to several years in the
prison at Gouda. Hendrickje became Rembrandt’s common-law wife, she sat
for many of Rembrandt’s paintings, such as Portrait
of Hendrickje Stoffels. (c. 1650) and in 1654 gave birth to
their daughter Cornelia.
Despite numerous commissions, the fees from pupils and the proceeds from
etchings, Rembrandt’s debts continued to grow. In 1656, Rembrandt was declared
bankrupt. His house and collections were auctioned; however, the sum thereby
raised was insufficient to cover the debts. The artist moved into the Roozengracht,
where he led a secluded life along with Mennonite and Jewish friends. Titus’
guardian, Louys Crayers, after a long court case, succeeded in having the
boy’s part of the inheritance returned to him from his bankrupt father’s
estate.
After Rembrandt’s bankruptcy, Hendrickje and Titus (in 1660) set up an
art-dealing business in order to provide Rembrandt with protection against
his creditors. Despite leading a secluded existence, he maintained many
contacts. He continued to keep pupils, and execute commissions, such as
the portrait of the board members of the Amsterdam Cloth makers’ Guild
The
Syndics of the Clothmakers' Guild (The Staalmeesters). (1662);
painting of Alexander the Great and a portrait of Homer.
(1663). He trained Titus as a painter but hardly any trace of his artistic
activities survived. After Hendrichje’s death in 1663 Titus continued the
art-dealing business. The paintings of Rembrandt’s last years bear the
sad imprint of his unhappy old age and disrepute The
Return of the Prodigal Son. (c 1668/69). The dramatic expressions
in his last magnificent series of self-portraits reveal an overwhelming
ultimate misery and inner torment Self-Portrait.
(1669).
In 1668, Titus married Magdalena van Loo, but unexpectedly died half a
year later. One year, which remained for him to live, Rembrandt spent at
the house of his daughter-in-law. He became godfather to his granddaughter
on 22nd March, 1669. The artist died on 4th October, 1669 without having
completed the painting Simeon with the
Christ Child in the Temple.
Bibliography:
Rembrandt Harmesz van Rijn. by E. Rotenberg. Moscow. 1956.
Rembrandt. Gemälde. Berlin. 1966.
Rembrandt. Paintings of the Artist in the Museums of the USSR.
Moscow. 1971.
Rembrandt’s Portraits. by K. Yegorova. Moscow. 1975.
Dutch Genre Painting. XVII century. by E. Fehner. Moscow. Izobrazitelnoe
Iskusstvo. 1979.
Rembrandt. by Yu. Kuznetsov. Moscow. 1988.
Painting of Western Europe. XVII century. by E. Rotenberg. Moscow.
Iskusstvo. 1989.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
Rembrandt's
Eyes by Simon Schama, Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn. Knopf,
1999.
Rembrandt:
The Painter at Work by Ernst Van De Wetering. University of
California Press, 2000.
The
Complete Etchings of Rembrandt: Reproduced in Original Size
by Rembrandt Van Rijn, Gary Schwartz (Editor). Dover Pubns, 1994.
Rembrandt's
Women by Julia Lloyd Williams, Rembrandt. Prestel USA, 2001.
The
Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri
J.M. Nouwen. Image, 1994.
Rembrandt's
Jews by Steven Nadler, Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn. University
of Chicago Press, 2003.
Reframing
Rembrandt: Jews and the Christian Image in Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam
(Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Arts Books) by Michael Zell. University of California
Press, 2002.