Rembrandt
(1606 – 1969)
Painter & Printmaker
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Rembrandt Harmenszoon (son
of Harmen) van Rijn (of the
Rhine) was born on July 15,
1606 in Leiden in the
Netherlands. He studied with
successful artists and began
teaching his own art students
when he was only 22 years old.
He opened his own studio in
Amsterdam and became very
successful painting portraits.
This is how he met his wife,
Saskia.
Saskia was from a wealthy
family, and when they
married, Rembrandt
began to enjoy a better life
style, buying a large
house and collecting
works of art. He lived more
lavishly than he could
afford, went into
bankruptcy, and had to sell
the house and all of the art
he had collected. He &
Saskia had 4 children, but
only their son Titus
survived. Saskia died
shortly after titus was
born. Rembrandt used his
family as models in many
paintings.
Titus, as a monk (1660)
Portrait of Saskia van
Uylenburg (1635)
Rembrandt’s house in
Amsterdam, now a Rembrandt
museum
Over his
lifetime,
Rembrandt
created many
self portraits.
When seen
together, they
show him
changing from
a young man,
to a confident
successful
middle aged
man, to a very
old man.
Rembrandt’s maid,
Hendrickje, became
his commonlaw wife
and Titus’ mother.
She & Rembrandt
had a daughter,
Cornelia.
Throughout the
1630s, Rembrandt
was very successful
as a portrait painter,
painting single people
as well as groups.
A typical portrait
(1634)
Portrait Jan Six (1654)
Six was a wealthy friend of rembrandt
This group of
clothmakers
hired Rembrandt
to paint this
group portrait. It
would have hung
in their
clubhouse or
office.
The Syndics of the Drapers’ guild (1662)
The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq
also called The Night watch (1942)
This portrait shows a
group of musketeers
getting ready to go to
battle.
commisssioned by
the musketeer
branch of the civil
militia, a chunk of it
was cut off so that it
fit on the right wall.
Some of the men
were unhappy
because they were in
the background
instead of up front
(they had all paid the
same amount toward
rembrandt’s fee).
Besides portraits,
rembrandt was known for
painting scenes from the
bible and mythology–often
with his own family as
characters in the painting.
His use of dramatic light
and dark is called
Chiaroscuro, a style derived
from the painter
Caravaggio. His paintings
show his deep compassion
for mankind, whether he is
painting the wealthy or the
common man.
This painting was stolen from a
museum in 1990 and is still
missing.
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633)
The Abduction of Europa
(1632)
This painting is said to be one of the best examples of baroque painting
The Philosopher in Meditation (1632)
Chiaroscuro!
In addition to painting,
rembrandt produced
etchings during most
of his career – until
his bankruptcy in
1656, when he was
forced to sell his
printing press. He
used different
techniques of drawing
& painting combined
with varied amounts
of acid to create thick
and thin lines in the
metal printing plates.
The Hundred Guilder Print (1647-49)
Rembrandt had many students
over the years, beginning when he
was only 22. Many paintings which
were originally thought to be his
were later discovered to be done
by his students.
The artists’ signature changed over the
years. Originally he just signed an “R”,
or “RH” (Rembrandt Harmenszoon),
then he signed “RHL” the (l being for
Leiden, his town of birth) then “RHLvanRijn”, adding “from the Rhine”, his
region. Finally, he went back to just
Rembrandt, adding the “D” that wasn’t
part of the original spelling of his name.
All of this made authenticating his work
more difficult for art historians.
This is an example of a painting that
was originally thought to be a
rembrandt, but later determined to be
one of his students’. You can see why it
was hard to tell!
Rembrandt outlived both
Hendrickje, who died in
1663, and his son Titus,
who died in 1668.
Rembrandt died on October
4, 1669 in Amsterdam, and
was buried in an unmarked
grave there.