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147-408: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn ( / ˈ r ɛ m b r æ n t , ˈ r ɛ m b r ɑː n t / ; Dutch: [ˈrɛmbrɑnt ˈɦɑrmə(n)ˌsoːɱ vɑn ˈrɛin] ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt , was a Dutch Golden Age painter , printmaker , and draughtsman . He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of Western art . It

294-451: A "reality effect" rather than an actual realist depiction; the degree to which this is the case varies between artists. Many paintings which seem only to depict everyday scenes actually illustrated Dutch proverbs and sayings or conveyed a moralistic message – the meaning of which may now need to be deciphered by art historians, though some are clear enough. Many artists, and no doubt purchasers, certainly tried to have things both ways, enjoying

441-468: A Beard from a US private collection, Study of a Weeping Woman , owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts , 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 offered his view to The Guardian that the demotion of the 1652 painting Old Man Sitting in a Chair "was a vast mistake...it

588-664: 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 the New Testament than the Old Testament , as had been the case before. In 1642 he painted The 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. In

735-417: A brought-in specialist master, although, or because, they were regarded as a very important part of the painting. Married and never-married women can be distinguished by their dress, highlighting how few single women were painted, except in family groups. As elsewhere, the accuracy of the clothes shown is variable - striped and patterned clothes were worn, but artists rarely show them, understandably avoiding

882-555: 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 . 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 , who

1029-854: 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 these graphic works natural drama eventually made way for quiet Dutch rural scenes. 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

1176-438: A collections of natural history specimens (two lion skins, a bird-of-paradise , corals and minerals). Unfortunately, the prices realized in the sale were disappointing. By February 1658, Rembrandt' house was sold at a foreclosure auction, and the family moved to more modest lodgings at Rozengracht . In 1660, he finished Ahasuerus and Haman at the feast of Esther which he sold to Jan J. Hinlopen . Early December 1660,

1323-538: A controversial 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

1470-404: A fashionable lodging with a view of the river Amstel. In 1637, Rembrandt moved upriver to Vlooienburg , in a building on the previous site of the current Stopera . 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. The mortgage to finance the 13,000 guilder purchase would be

1617-515: A generous cleavage or stretch of thigh, usually when painting prostitutes or "Italian" peasants. Portrait painting thrived in the Netherlands in the 17th century, as there was a large mercantile class who were far more ready to commission portraits than their equivalents in other countries; a summary of various estimates of total production arrives at between 750,000 and 1,100,000 portraits. Rembrandt enjoyed his greatest period of financial success as

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1764-410: A great number of genre works. Another popular source of meaning is visual puns using the great number of Dutch slang terms in the sexual area: the vagina could be represented by a lute ( luit ) or stocking ( kous ), and sex by a bird ( vogelen ), among many other options, and purely visual symbols such as shoes, spouts, and jugs and flagons on their side. The same painters often painted works in

1911-648: A great number of short lives of artists – over 500 in Houbraken's case – and both are considered generally accurate on factual matters. The German artist Joachim von Sandrart (1606–1688) had worked for periods in Holland, and his Deutsche Akademie in the same format covers many Dutch artists he knew. Houbraken's master, and Rembrandt's pupil, was Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–1678), whose Zichtbare wereld and Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst (1678) contain more critical than biographical information and are among

2058-495: A history painter before finding financial success as a portraitist, and he never relinquished his ambitions in this area. A great number of his etchings are of narrative religious scenes, and the story of his last history commission, The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis (1661) illustrates both his commitment to the form and the difficulties he had in finding an audience. Several artists, many his pupils, attempted with some success to continue his very personal style; Govaert Flinck

2205-515: A large number of sub-types within the genre: single figures, peasant families, tavern scenes, " merry company " parties, women at work about the house, scenes of village or town festivities (though these were still more common in Flemish painting), market scenes, barracks scenes, scenes with horses or farm animals, in snow, by moonlight, and many more. In fact, most of these had specific terms in Dutch, but there

2352-437: A magnificent collection of prints by other artists, and many borrowings and influences in his work can be traced to artists as diverse as Mantegna , Raphael , Hercules Seghers , and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione . Drawings by Rembrandt and his pupils/followers have been extensively studied by many artists and scholars through the centuries. His original draughtsmanship has been described as an individualistic art style that

2499-525: A matter of ongoing debate. Contrary to what is often said, the work was hailed as a success from the beginning. Parts of the canvas were cut off (approximately 20% from the left-hand side was removed) to make the painting fit its new position when it was moved to the town hall in 1715. In 1817 this large painting was moved to the Trippenhuis . Since 1885 the painting is on display at the Rijksmuseum . In 1940

2646-489: 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 paintings, drawings, Roman emperors busts, Greek philosophers statues, books (a bible), two globes , bonnets, armor , and various objects from Asia ( chinaware ), as well as

2793-424: A metre or more across), were Aelbert Cuyp (1620–1691) and Philips Koninck (1619–1688). Cuyp took golden Italian light and used it in evening scenes with a group of figures in the foreground and behind them a river and wide landscape. Koninck's best works are panoramic views, as from a hill, over wide flat farmlands, with a huge sky. A different type of landscape, produced throughout the tonal and classical phases,

2940-554: 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 more rare 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

3087-735: 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 themes 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. Rembrandt produced etchings for most of his career, from 1626 to 1660, when he

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3234-790: A period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age . Rembrandt never went abroad but was considerably influenced by the work of the Italian Old Masters 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

3381-443: A period, including Cuyp. From the 1650s the "classical phase" began, retaining the atmospheric quality, but with more expressive compositions and stronger contrasts of light and colour. Compositions are often anchored by a single "heroic tree", windmill or tower, or ship in marine works. The leading artist was Jacob van Ruisdael (1628–1682), who produced a great quantity and variety of work, using every typical Dutch subject except

3528-540: A portrait painted was upon marriage, when the new husband and wife more often than not occupied separate frames in a pair of paintings. Rembrandt's later portraits compel by force of characterization, and sometimes a narrative element, but even his early portraits can be dispiriting en masse , as in the roomful of 'starter Rembrandts' donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The other great portraitist of

3675-400: A postponement. The house required repairs prompting Rembrandt to borrow money from friends, including Jan Six . 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

3822-444: A private chamber he wears riding clothes. Jan de Bray encouraged his sitters to pose costumed as figures from classical history, but many of his works are of his own family. Thomas de Keyser , Bartholomeus van der Helst , Ferdinand Bol and others, including many mentioned below as history or genre painters, did their best to enliven more conventional works. Portraiture, less affected by fashion than other types of painting, remained

3969-455: A respected family: her father Rombertus was a lawyer and had been burgomaster (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 of Amsterdam and a member of the local guild of painters . He also acquired a number of students, among them Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck . In 1635, Rembrandt and Saskia rented

4116-454: 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 came from

4263-414: 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 . Despite the financial difficulties, Rembrandt's bankruptcy was not forced. In July 1656, he declared his insolvency , taking stock and willingly surrendered his assets. Notably, he had already transferred

4410-412: A severe depression to the art market, which never quite returned to earlier heights. The distribution of pictures was very wide: "yea many tymes, blacksmithes, cobblers etts., will have some picture or other by their Forge and in their stalle. Such is the generall Notion, enclination and delight that these Countrie Native have to Painting" reported an English traveller in 1640. There were, for virtually

4557-405: A specific commission than was then the case in other countries – one of many ways in which the Dutch art market showed the future. There were many dynasties of artists, and many married the daughters of their masters or other artists. Many artists came from well-off families, who paid fees for their apprenticeships, and they often married into property. Rembrandt and Jan Steen were both enrolled at

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4704-567: A state lawyer (landsadvocaat), but was forced — because of the variety of positions he held — to give up that post. In his later legal career he became the supreme-court lawyer (raadsheer) at the Court of Friesland. In 1595 he bought a house on the Ossekop, where Saskia was born. (Today the building is in use by the famous twins and lawyers Wim and Hans Anker.) Van Uylenburgh owned two farms, one in Rijperkerk ,

4851-505: A strong contemporary reputation, or who had fallen out of fashion, including many now considered among the greatest of the period, such as Vermeer , Frans Hals and Rembrandt in his last years, had considerable problems earning a living, and died poor; many artists had other jobs, or abandoned art entirely. In particular, the French invasion of 1672 (the Rampjaar , or "year of disaster") brought

4998-459: A studio in Leiden, which he shared with friend and colleague Jan Lievens . In 1627, Rembrandt began to accept students, among them Gerrit Dou and Isaac de Jouderville . Joan Huydecoper is mentioned as the first buyer of a Rembrandt painting in 1628. In 1629, Rembrandt was discovered by the statesman Constantijn Huygens who procured for Rembrandt important commissions from the court of The Hague. As

5145-479: 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

5292-554: A table, with solemn expressions on their faces. Most militia group portraits were commissioned in Haarlem and Amsterdam and were much more flamboyant and relaxed or even boisterous than other types of portraits, as well as much larger. Early examples showed them dining, but later groups showed most figures standing for a more dynamic composition. Rembrandt's famous The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq better known as

5439-479: A trust set up for Titus in Saskia's will. 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

5586-520: A very different spirit of housewives or other women at rest in the home or at work – they massively outnumber similar treatments of men. In fact, working-class men going about their jobs are notably absent from Dutch Golden Age art, with landscapes populated by travellers and idlers but rarely tillers of the soil. Despite the Dutch Republic being the most important nation in international trade in Europe, and

5733-475: A very personal development of 16th-century styles. Aert van der Neer (d. 1677) painted very small scenes of rivers at night or under ice and snow. Landscapes with animals in the foreground were a distinct sub-type, and were painted by Cuyp, Paulus Potter (1625–1654), Albert Jansz. Klomp (1625-1688), Adriaen van de Velde (1636–1672) and Karel Dujardin (1626–1678, farm animals), with Philips Wouwerman painting horses and riders in various settings. The cow

5880-501: 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 , 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 produced

6027-422: A young Amsterdam portraitist, but like other artists, grew rather bored with painting commissioned portraits of burghers: "artists travel along this road without delight", according to van Mander. While Dutch portrait painting avoids the swagger and excessive rhetoric of the aristocratic Baroque portraiture current in the rest of 17th-century Europe, the sombre clothing of male and in many cases female sitters, and

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6174-531: Is Harmen. "van Rijn" indicates that his family lived near the Rhine . Dutch Golden Age painter The new Dutch Republic was the most prosperous nation in Europe and led European trade, science, and art. The northern Netherlandish provinces that made up the new state had traditionally been less important artistic centres than cities in Flanders in the south. The upheavals and large-scale transfers of population of

6321-600: 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

6468-525: Is best known as the father of Saskia van Uylenburgh , the wife of Rembrandt . Rombertus was one of the founders of the University of Franeker in 1585. Gerrit van Uylenburgh, who may have been Rombertus' brother, tended to Mennonitism , left for Poland to become the royal furniture maker in Kraków , and became the father of the art-dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh . Rombertus was born at Bergum . He studied law at

6615-430: Is estimated Rembrandt produced a total of about three hundred paintings, three hundred etchings, and two thousand drawings. Unlike most Dutch painters of the 17th century, Rembrandt's works depict a wide range of styles and subject matter, from portraits and self-portraits to landscapes, genre scenes , allegorical and historical scenes, biblical and mythological themes and animal studies. His contributions to art came in

6762-439: Is mostly found in tomb monuments and attached to public buildings, and small sculptures for houses are a noticeable gap, their place taken by silverware and ceramics . Painted delftware tiles were very cheap and common, if rarely of really high quality, but silver, especially in the auricular style , led Europe. With this exception, the best artistic efforts were concentrated on painting and printmaking. Foreigners remarked on

6909-635: 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 ), 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 and sometimes drypoint , have

7056-439: 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

7203-484: 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. Technical investigation of Rembrandt's paintings in the possession of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Kassel)

7350-458: The Night Watch (1642), was an ambitious and not entirely successful attempt to show a group in action, setting out for a patrol or parade, also innovative in avoiding the typical very wide format of such works. The cost of group portraits was usually shared by the subjects, often not equally. The amount paid might determine each person's place in the picture, either head to toe in full regalia in

7497-534: The Catholic University of Leuven or Heidelberg and graduated in the year 1578. In this same year, he became a lawyer in Leeuwarden. He married Siuckien Ulckedr Aessinga (or Sjoukje Osinga) and probably had three sons and four daughters: Jeltje, Romke, Ulke, Antje, Edzert, Hiskje (= Hiskia) and Saakje (= Saskia). With a career constantly on the rise, he became a pensionaris and mayor of Leeuwarden. He

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7644-563: The Dutch Revolt , which had produced a strong reaction towards realism and a distrust of grandiose visual rhetoric. History painting was now a "minority art", although to an extent this was redressed by a relatively keen interest in print versions of history subjects. More than in other types of painting, Dutch history painters continued to be influenced by Italian painting. Prints and copies of Italian masterpieces circulated and suggested certain compositional schemes. The growing Dutch skill in

7791-406: The University of Leiden for a while. Several cities had distinct styles and specialities by subject, but Amsterdam was the largest artistic centre, because of its great wealth. Cities such as Haarlem and Utrecht were more important in the first half of the century, with Leiden and other cities emerging after 1648, and above all Amsterdam, which increasingly drew to it artists from the rest of

7938-416: The " hierarchy of genres " in painting, whereby some types were regarded as more prestigious than others, led many painters to want to produce history painting. However, this was the hardest to sell, as even Rembrandt found. Many were forced to produce portraits or genre scenes, which sold much more easily. In descending order of status, the categories in the hierarchy were: The Dutch concentrated heavily on

8085-404: The "Pre-Rembrandtists", as Rembrandt's early paintings were in this style. Utrecht Caravaggism describes a group of artists who produced both history painting and generally large genre scenes in an Italian-influenced style, often making heavy use of chiaroscuro . Utrecht, before the revolt the most important city in the new Dutch territory, was an unusual Dutch city, still about 40% Catholic in

8232-443: The "lower" categories, but by no means rejected the concept of the hierarchy. Most paintings were relatively small – the only common type of really large paintings were group portraits. Painting directly onto walls hardly existed; when a wall-space in a public building needed decorating, fitted framed canvas was normally used. For the extra precision possible on a hard surface, many painters continued to use wooden panels, sometime after

8379-581: The 1630s in the cases of Abraham Bloemaert and Joachim Wtewael . Many history paintings were small in scale, with the German painter (based in Rome) Adam Elsheimer as much an influence as Caravaggio (both died in 1610) on Dutch painters like Pieter Lastman , Rembrandt's master, and Jan and Jacob Pynas . Compared to Baroque history painting from other countries, they shared the Dutch emphasis on realism, and narrative directness, and are sometimes known as

8526-600: The 16th century first served as an example. These had been not particularly realistic, having been painted mostly in the studio, partly from imagination, and often still using the semi-aerial view from above typical of earlier Netherlandish landscape painting in the " world landscape " tradition of Joachim Patinir , Herri met de Bles and the early Pieter Bruegel the Elder . A more realistic Dutch landscape style developed, seen from ground level, often based on drawings made outdoors, with lower horizons which made it possible to emphasize

8673-579: The Bible are regarded as his greatest creative triumphs. His approximately 40 self-portraits form an intimate autobiography. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, in the Dutch Republic , now the Netherlands . 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 and his mother

8820-472: The Calvinist feeling that the inclusion of props, possessions or views of land in the background would show the sin of pride leads to an undeniable sameness in many Dutch portraits, for all their technical quality. Even a standing pose is usually avoided, as a full-length might also show pride. Poses are undemonstrative, especially for women, though children may be allowed more freedom. The classic moment for having

8967-493: 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 , the theatrical employment of light and shadow derived from Caravaggio , or, more likely, from

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9114-622: The Drapers' Guild is a subtle treatment of a group round a table. Scientists often posed with instruments and objects of their study around them. Physicians sometimes posed together around a cadaver, a so-called 'Anatomical Lesson', the most famous one being Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632, Mauritshuis , The Hague ). Boards of trustees in their regentenstuk portraits preferred an image of austerity and humility, posing in dark clothing (which by its refinement testified to their prominent standing in society), often seated around

9261-590: 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 , biblical or historical themes. Throughout his career, Rembrandt took as his primary subjects

9408-572: The Elder were among the first to turn into their principal subjects, also making use of proverbs. The Haarlem painters Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech , Frans Hals and Esaias van de Velde were important painters early in the period. Buytewech painted " merry companies " of finely dressed young people, with moralistic significance lurking in the detail. Van de Velde was also important as a landscapist, whose scenes included unglamorous figures very different from those in his genre paintings, which were typically set at garden parties in country houses. Hals

9555-516: The Elder , and later his son Willem van Mieris , Godfried Schalcken , and Adriaen van der Werff . This later generation, whose work now seems over-refined compared to their predecessors, also painted portraits and histories, and were the most highly regarded and rewarded Dutch painters by the end of the period, whose works were sought after all over Europe. Genre paintings reflected the increasing prosperity of Dutch society, and settings grew steadily more comfortable, opulent and carefully depicted as

9702-496: The Italianate landscape (below); instead, he produced "Nordic" landscapes of dark and dramatic mountain pine forests with rushing torrents and waterfalls. His pupil was Meindert Hobbema (1638–1709), best known for his atypical Avenue at Middelharnis (1689, London), a departure from his usual scenes of watermills and roads through woods. Two other artists with more personal styles, whose best work included larger pictures (up to

9849-781: 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 . His illegitimate child , 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

9996-655: The Low Countries depended on it for trade, battled with it for new land, and battled on it with competing nations. Important early figures in the move to realism were Esaias van de Velde (1587–1630) and Hendrick Avercamp (1585–1634), both also mentioned above as genre painters – in Avercamp's case the same paintings deserve mention in each category. From the late 1620s the "tonal phase" of landscape painting started, as artists softened or blurred their outlines, and concentrated on an atmospheric effect, with great prominence given to

10143-665: 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. "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

10290-543: The Netherlands, as well as Flanders and Germany. Dutch artists were strikingly less concerned about artistic theory than those of many nations, and less given to discussing their art; it appears that there was also much less interest in artistic theory in general intellectual circles and among the wider public than was by then common in Italy. As nearly all commissions and sales were private, and between bourgeois individuals whose accounts have not been preserved, these are also less well documented than elsewhere. But Dutch art

10437-757: The Netherlands. Scenes of everyday life, now called genre paintings , prominently feature figures to whom no specific identity can be attached – they are not portraits or intended as historical figures, but rather snapshots of quotidian life. Together with landscape painting, the development and enormous popularity of genre painting is the most distinctive feature of Dutch painting in this period, although in this case they were also very popular in Flemish painting. Many are single figures, such as Vermeer's The Milkmaid ; others may show large groups at some social occasion, or crowds. "Seventeenth-century Holland produced more and better artists dedicated to genre painting with and without messages than any other nation." There were

10584-463: The abundance of marine paintings, scenes of dock workers and other commercial activities are very rare. This group of subjects was a Dutch invention, reflecting the cultural preoccupations of the age, and was to be adopted by artists from other countries, especially France, in the two centuries following. The tradition developed from the realism and detailed background activity of Early Netherlandish painting, which Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel

10731-399: 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. He owned, until forced to sell it,

10878-406: 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 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. Many of those removed are now thought to be

11025-625: The baroque style of Rubens . 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). By the late 1630s, Rembrandt had produced a few paintings and many etchings of landscapes . Often these landscapes highlighted natural drama, featuring uprooted trees and ominous skies ( Cottages before

11172-567: The bulk of their work within one of these. The full development of this specialization is seen from the late 1620s, and the period from then until the French invasion of 1672 is the core of Golden Age painting. Artists would spend most of their careers painting only portraits, genre scenes, landscapes, seascapes and ships, or still lifes , and often a particular sub-type within these categories. Many of these types of subjects were new in Western painting, and

11319-582: The burghers, and depictions were allowed more freedom and display. A distinctive type of painting, combining elements of the portrait, history, and genre painting was the tronie . This was usually a half-length of a single figure which concentrated on capturing an unusual mood or expression. The actual identity of the model was not supposed to be important, but they might represent a historical figure and be in exotic or historic costume. Jan Lievens and Rembrandt, many of whose self-portraits are also tronies (especially his etched ones), were among those who developed

11466-572: The category, and were treated in a realist fashion, as the appropriate combination of portraits with marine, townscape or landscape subjects. Large dramatic historical or Biblical scenes were produced less frequently than in other countries, as there was no local market for church art, and few large aristocratic Baroque houses to fill. More than that, the Protestant population of major cities had been exposed to some remarkably hypocritical uses of Mannerist allegory in unsuccessful Habsburg propaganda during

11613-458: The century progressed. Artists not part of the Leiden group whose common subjects also were more intimate genre groups included Nicolaes Maes , Gerard ter Borch and Pieter de Hooch , whose interest in light in interior scenes was shared with Jan Vermeer , long a very obscure figure, but now the most highly regarded genre painter of all. Landscape painting was a major genre in the 17th century. Flemish landscapes (particularly from Antwerp ) of

11760-552: The century, it began to become clear to all involved that the old idea of a guild controlling both training and sales no longer worked well, and gradually the guilds were replaced with academies , often only concerned with the training of artists. The Hague , with the court, was an early example, where artists split into two groups in 1656 with the founding of the Confrerie Pictura . With the obvious exception of portraits, many more Dutch paintings were done "speculatively" without

11907-571: The court and church, led to a resurgence of artists guilds, often still called the Guild of Saint Luke . In many cases these involved the artists extricating themselves from medieval groupings where they shared a guild with several other trades, such as housepainting. Several new guilds were established in the period: Amsterdam in 1579, Haarlem in 1590, and Gouda , Rotterdam , Utrecht and Delft between 1609 and 1611. The Leiden authorities distrusted guilds and did not allow one until 1648. Later in

12054-400: 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

12201-459: 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

12348-406: The depiction of disorderly households or brothel scenes, while providing a moral interpretation – the works of Jan Steen , whose other profession was as an innkeeper, are an example. The balance between these elements is still debated by art historians today. The titles given later to paintings often distinguish between " taverns " or " inns " and " brothels ", but in practice these were very often

12495-525: The depiction of light was brought to bear on styles derived from Italy, notably that of Caravaggio . Some Dutch painters also travelled to Italy, though this was less common than with their Flemish contemporaries, as can be seen from the membership of the Bentvueghels club in Rome. In the early part of the century many Northern Mannerist artists with styles formed in the previous century continued to work, until

12642-417: The enormous quantities of art produced and the large fairs where many paintings were sold – it has been roughly estimated that over 1.3 million Dutch pictures were painted in the 20 years after 1640 alone. The volume of production meant that prices were fairly low, except for the best known artists; as in most subsequent periods, there was a steep price gradient for more fashionable artists. Those without

12789-589: 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 , recently retitled by curators at the Metropolitan Museum, has been directly challenged by Schama applying

12936-406: The extra work. Lace and ruff collars were unavoidable and presented a formidable challenge to painters' intent on realism. Rembrandt evolved a more effective way of painting patterned lace, laying in broad white stokes, and then painting lightly in black to show the pattern. Another way of doing this was to paint in white over a black layer and scratch off the white with the end of the brush to show

13083-424: 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

13230-496: The first time, many professional art dealers, several also significant artists, like Vermeer and his father, Jan van Goyen and Willem Kalf . Rembrandt's dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh and his son Gerrit were among the most important. Landscapes were the easiest uncommissioned works to sell, and their painters were the "common footmen in the Army of Art" according to Samuel van Hoogstraten . The technical quality of Dutch artists

13377-492: The foreground or face only in the back of the group. Sometimes all group members paid an equal sum, which was likely to lead to quarrels when some members gained a more prominent place in the picture than others. In Amsterdam most of these paintings would ultimately end up in the possession of the city council, and many are now on display in the Amsterdams Historisch Museum ; there are no significant examples outside

13524-566: The genre. Family portraits tended, as in Flanders, to be set outdoors in gardens, but without an extensive view as later in England, and to be relatively informal in dress and mood. Group portraits, largely a Dutch invention, were popular among the large numbers of civic associations that were a notable part of Dutch life, such as the officers of a city's schutterij or militia guards, boards of trustees and regents of guilds and charitable foundations and

13671-438: The hands of the 17th-century Dutch – almost universally literate in the vernacular, but mostly without education in the classics – turned into the popularist and highly moralistic works of Jacob Cats , Roemer Visscher , and others, often based in popular proverbs . The illustrations to these are often quoted directly in paintings, and since the start of the 20th century art historians have attached proverbs, sayings and mottoes to

13818-431: 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 by renowned artists such as Raphael , Mantegna and Giorgione . Remarkably, Rembrandt was permitted to retain his tools as

13965-400: The idealization and love of splendour typical of much Baroque work, including that of neighbouring Flanders . Most work, including that for which the period is best known, reflects the traditions of detailed realism inherited from Early Netherlandish painting . A distinctive feature of the period is the proliferation of distinct genres of paintings, with the majority of artists producing

14112-491: The jewish groom. This toxic arsenic yellow was rarely used in oil painting. One painting (Saskia van Uylenburgh as Flora) reportedly contains gamboge . Rembrandt very rarely used pure blue or green colors, the most pronounced exception being Belshazzar's Feast in the National Gallery in London . The book by Bomford describes more recent technical investigations and pigment analyses of Rembrandt's paintings predominantly in

14259-509: 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 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

14406-414: The like. Especially in the first half of the century, portraits were very formal and stiff in composition. Groups were often seated around a table, each person looking at the viewer. Much attention was paid to fine details in clothing, and where applicable, to furniture and other signs of a person's position in society. Later in the century groups became livelier and colours brighter. Rembrandt's Syndics of

14553-402: 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 a number of biblical works, including The Raising of

14700-492: 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,

14847-428: 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

14994-474: The mid-century, even more among the elite groups, who included many rural nobility and gentry with town houses there. The leading artists were Hendrick ter Brugghen , Gerard van Honthorst and Dirck van Baburen , and the school was active about 1630, although van Honthorst continued until the 1650s as a successful court painter to the English, Dutch and Danish courts in a more classical style. Rembrandt began as

15141-482: The most important treatises on painting of the period. Like other Dutch works on the theory of art, they expound many commonplaces of Renaissance theory and do not entirely reflect contemporary Dutch art, still often concentrating on history painting. This category comprises not only paintings that depicted historical events of the past, but also paintings that showed biblical, mythological, literary and allegorical scenes. Recent historical events essentially fell out of

15288-418: The often impressive cloud formations that were (and are) so typical in the climate of the region, and which cast a particular light. Favourite subjects were the dunes along the western seacoast, rivers with their broad adjoining meadows where cattle grazed, often with the silhouette of a city in the distance. Winter landscapes with frozen canals and creeks also abounded. The sea was a favourite topic as well since

15435-517: 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

15582-674: The painting was moved to Kasteel Radboud ; in 1941 to a bunker near Heemskerk ; in 1942 to St Pietersberg ; in June 1945 it was shipped back to Amsterdam. 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

15729-452: The pattern. At the end of the century there was a fashion for showing sitters in a semi-fancy dress, begun in England by van Dyck in the 1630s, known as "picturesque" or "Roman" dress. Aristocratic, and militia, sitters allowed themselves more freedom in bright dress and expansive settings than burghers, and religious affiliations probably affected many depictions. By the end of the century aristocratic, or French, values were spreading among

15876-485: The period is Frans Hals , whose famously lively brushwork and ability to show sitters looking relaxed and cheerful adds excitement to even the most unpromising subjects. The extremely "nonchalant pose" of his portrait of Willem Heythuijsen is exceptional: "no other portrait from this period is so informal". The sitter was a wealthy textile merchant who had already commissioned Hals' only individual life-sized full-length portrait ten years before. In this much smaller work for

16023-400: The period is more notable for a huge variety of other genres, sub-divided into numerous specialized categories, such as scenes of peasant life, landscapes, townscapes, landscapes with animals, maritime paintings, flower paintings and still lifes of various types. The development of many of these types of painting was decisively influenced by 17th-century Dutch artists. The widely held theory of

16170-426: The plate. He also experimented with the effects of printing on different kinds of paper, including Japanese paper , which he used frequently, and on vellum . 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 of drypoint , exploiting, especially in landscapes, the rich fuzzy burr that this technique gives to

16317-532: 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. Paintings were rather small but rich in details (for example, in costumes and jewelry). Religious and allegorical themes were favored, as were tronies . In 1626 Rembrandt produced his first etchings,

16464-430: The print only survives in two states , 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 to create his dark areas, which often take up much of

16611-407: The rest of Western Europe had abandoned them; some used copper plates, usually recycling plates from printmaking . In turn, the number of surviving Golden Age paintings was reduced by them being overpainted with new works by artists throughout the 18th and 19th century – poor ones were usually cheaper than a new canvas, stretcher and frame. There was very little Dutch sculpture during the period; it

16758-418: The safe fallback for Dutch artists. From what little we know of the studio procedures of artists, it seems that, as elsewhere in Europe, the face was probably drawn and perhaps painted at an initial sitting or two. The typical number of further sittings is unclear - between zero (for a Rembrandt full-length) and 50 appear documented. The clothes were left at the studio and might well be painted by assistants, or

16905-410: 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 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 . The resulting work, The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis ,

17052-492: The same establishments, as many taverns had rooms above or behind set aside for sexual purposes: "Inn in front; brothel behind" was a Dutch proverb . The Steen above is very clearly an exemplum , and though each of the individual components of it is realistically depicted, the overall scene is not a plausible depiction of a real moment; typically, of genre painting, it is a situation that is depicted, and satirized. The Renaissance tradition of recondite emblem books had, in

17199-438: The scholarship of Paul Crenshaw. Schama presents a substantial argument that it was the famous ancient Greek painter Apelles 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

17346-460: The sky, and human figures usually either absent or small and distant. Compositions based on a diagonal across the picture space became popular, and water often featured. The leading artists were Jan van Goyen (1596–1656), Salomon van Ruysdael (1602–1670), Pieter de Molyn (1595–1661), and in marine painting Simon de Vlieger (1601–1653), with a host of minor figures – a recent study lists over 75 artists who worked in van Goyen's manner for at least

17493-490: The style were Nicolaes Berchem (1620–1683) and Adam Pijnacker . Italianate landscapes were popular as prints, and more paintings by Berchem were reproduced in engravings during the period itself than those of any other artist. A number of other artists do not fit in any of these groups, above all Rembrandt, whose relatively few painted landscapes show various influences, including some from Hercules Seghers (c. 1589–c. 1638); his very rare large mountain valley landscapes were

17640-429: 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

17787-515: The themes of portraiture, landscape and narrative painting. For the last, he was especially praised by his contemporaries, who extolled him as a masterly interpreter of biblical stories 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

17934-495: 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

18081-538: The war, and the sharp break with the old monarchist and Catholic cultural traditions, meant that Dutch art had to reinvent itself almost entirely, a task in which it was very largely successful. The painting of religious subjects declined very sharply, but a large new market for all kinds of secular subjects grew up. Although Dutch painting of the Golden Age is included in the general European period of Baroque painting , and often shows many of its characteristics, most lacks

18228-442: The way the Dutch painted them in this period was decisive for their future development. A distinctive feature of the period, compared to earlier European painting, was the small amount of religious painting. Dutch Calvinism forbade religious painting in churches, and though biblical subjects were acceptable in private homes, relatively few were produced. The other traditional classes of history and portrait painting were present, but

18375-790: 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 , 1636, Belshazzar's Feast , c. 1635 Danaë , 1636 but reworked later), seeking to emulate

18522-444: The work of Titian , 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

18669-518: The work of his students. One example of activity is The Polish Rider , now housed in the Frick Collection in New York City. 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

18816-456: The world. The piece was commissioned for the new hall of the Kloveniersdoelen , the musketeer branch of the civic militia . Rembrandt departed from convention, which ordered that such genre pieces should be stately and formal, rather a line-up than an action scene. Instead, he showed the militia readying themselves to embark on a mission, though the exact nature of the mission or event is

18963-467: Was a baker's daughter. His mother was Catholic , and his father belonged to the Dutch 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. As a boy, he attended a Latin school . In 1620, he was enrolled at the University of Leiden , although he had a greater inclination towards painting and

19110-400: Was a source of national pride, and the major biographers are crucial sources of information. These are Karel van Mander (Het Schilderboeck, 1604), who essentially covers the previous century, and Arnold Houbraken ( De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen – "The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters", 1718–21). Both followed, and indeed exceeded, Vasari in including

19257-579: Was a symbol of prosperity to the Dutch, hitherto overlooked in art, and apart from the horse by far the most commonly shown animal; goats were used to indicate Italy. Potter's The Young Bull is an enormous and famous portrait which Napoleon took to Paris (it later returned) though livestock analysts have noted from the depiction of the various parts of the anatomy that it appears to be a composite of studies of six different animals of widely different ages. Rombertus van Uylenburgh Rombertus van Uylenburgh or Rombout van Uylenborgh (1554 – 4 June 1624)

19404-556: Was also chosen in 1584 as a delegate of the states of Friesland and one of the Frisian envoys in the Hague . Because votes were per region, the number of delegates made no difference. Van Uylenburgh was present at Delft on the day of the murder of prince William of Orange — 10 July 1584 — for discussions with the prince over difficulties in the Frisian States. Rombertus, embarrassed,

19551-682: Was as likely to paint a single figure as a group, as were the Utrecht Caravaggisti in their genre works, and the single figure, or small groups of two or three became increasingly common, especially those including women and children. The most notable woman artist of the period, Judith Leyster (1609–1660), specialized in these, before her husband, Jan Miense Molenaer , prevailed on her to give up painting. The Leiden school of fijnschilder ("fine painters") were renowned for small and highly finished paintings, many of this type. Leading artists included Gerard Dou , Gabriel Metsu , Frans van Mieris

19698-455: Was born in 1641, survived into adulthood. Saskia died in 1642, probably from tuberculosis . Rembrandt's drawings of her on her sick and death bed are among his most moving works. 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 and asked to be awarded alimony . Rembrandt tried to settle

19845-424: Was called De Nachtwacht by the Dutch and The Night Watch by Sir Joshua Reynolds because by 1781 the picture was so dimmed and defaced that it was almost indistinguishable, and it looked quite like a night scene. After it was cleaned, it was discovered to represent broad day—a party of 18 musketeers stepping from a gloomy courtyard into the blinding sunlight. For Théophile Thoré it was the prettiest painting in

19992-400: 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 , various ochres , Vandyke brown, bone black, charcoal black , lamp black , vermilion , madder lake , azurite , ultramarine , yellow lake and lead-tin-yellow . Synthetic orpiment was shown in the shadows of the sleeve of

20139-444: 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 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

20286-462: Was generally high, still mostly following the old medieval system of training by apprenticeship with a master. Typically, workshops were smaller than in Flanders or Italy, with only one or two apprentices at a time, the number often being restricted by guild regulations. The turmoil of the early years of the Republic, with displaced artists from the south moving north and the loss of traditional markets in

20433-497: Was invited to the lunch, because there were no other guests. At the end of the meal, William of Orange stumbled on the stair, and was then murdered with a pistol by Balthasar Gerards . Cornelis van Aarsens — according to Uylenburgh not present at the event — jotted down the prince's last words. The bishop Morillon wrote "Je le tiens mentir de ce qu' auroit dit ledict Orangier estant féru, puisqu' il advint après boire, lorsqu' il estoit tousiours raoust." Until 1591 Uylenburgh rose as

20580-501: Was marked by more than just artistic achievements; he navigated numerous legal and financial challenges, leaving a complex legacy. 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,

20727-499: Was no overall Dutch term equivalent to "genre painting" – until the late 18th century the English often called them "drolleries". Some artists worked mostly within one of these sub-types, especially after about 1625. Over the course of the century, genre paintings tended to reduce in size. Though genre paintings provide many insights into the daily life of 17th-century citizens of all classes, their accuracy cannot always be taken for granted. Typically they show what art historians term

20874-572: Was principally a portraitist, but also painted genre figures of a portrait size early in his career. A stay in Haarlem by the Flemish master of peasant tavern scenes Adriaen Brouwer , from 1625 or 1626, gave Adriaen van Ostade his lifelong subject, though he often took a more sentimental approach. Before Brouwer, peasants had normally been depicted outdoors; he usually shows them in a plain and dim interior, though van Ostade's sometimes occupy ostentatiously decrepit farmhouses of enormous size. Van Ostade

21021-516: 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 in 1662. It remains a challenge to gauge Rembrandt's wealth accurately as he may have overestimated

21168-401: Was soon apprenticed to Jacob van Swanenburg , with whom he spent three years. After a brief but important apprenticeship of six months with the history painter Pieter Lastman 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. In 1625, Rembrandt opened

21315-487: Was the most successful. Gerard de Lairesse (1640–1711) was another of these, before falling under heavy influence from French classicism, and becoming its leading Dutch proponent as both artist and theoretician. Nudity was effectively the preserve of the history painter, although many portraitists dressed up their occasional nudes (nearly always female) with a classical title, as Rembrandt did. For all their uninhibited suggestiveness, genre painters rarely revealed more than

21462-516: Was the romantic Italianate landscape, typically in more mountainous settings than are found in the Netherlands, with golden light, and sometimes picturesque Mediterranean staffage and ruins. Not all the artists who specialized in these had visited Italy. Jan Both (d. 1652), who had been to Rome and worked with Claude Lorrain , was a leading developer of the subgenre, which influenced the work of many painters of landscapes with Dutch settings, such as Aelbert Cuyp. Other artists who consistently worked in

21609-586: Was very similar to East Asian old masters, most notably Chinese masters: 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 , Akbar , Jahangir and Dara Shikoh and may have influenced the costumes and other aspects of his works. Rembrandt painted The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq between 1640 and 1642, and it became his most famous work. This picture

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