Rembrandt van Rijn
Master of light and self-scrutiny.
Rembrandt worked in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He depicted himself in a large number of self-portraits – paintings, etchings and drawings – and over the years became increasingly free and personal.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden. His father was a miller, and Rembrandt was one of the youngest of many siblings. He attended the Latin school and enrolled at the university but chose instead to become a painter. After a few years of training in Leiden he studied for six months with the history painter Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. Back in Leiden he shared a studio with his friend Jan Lievens. He was noticed early on by Constantijn Huygens, secretary to the Stadholder.
Around 1631 he moved to Amsterdam, one of the richest cities in the world. His breakthrough came with The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp of 1632, now in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. In 1634 he married Saskia van Uylenburgh. They bought a large house, now the Rembrandt House, and he collected art and curiosities. Three of their children died in infancy. Only their son Titus survived. Saskia died in 1642, the same year he completed The Night Watch, a huge group portrait of a civic guard company that is now the Rijksmuseum's most famous painting.
Rembrandt used light and dark to create drama and inner life. The light often falls warm and golden on faces and hands, while the rest disappears into gloom. Over the years his paint grew thicker and his brushwork freer. He was also one of the greatest printmakers in history, and his etchings spread across Europe. He painted, etched and drew himself a great many times throughout his life, from young and ambitious to old and marked by life.
After Saskia's death he lived with Hendrickje Stoffels, whom he could not marry without losing Saskia's inheritance. They had a daughter, Cornelia. He had lived beyond his means and went bankrupt in 1656. The house and the collections were sold. Even so, in his last years he created some of his greatest works, such as the group portrait of the cloth guild's inspectors, The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild, and The Jewish Bride, both in the Rijksmuseum. The city's commission The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis for the town hall was rejected, and the surviving fragment is now in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. Hendrickje died in 1663 and Titus in 1668. Rembrandt died in Amsterdam on 4 October 1669.
Rembrandt is regarded as one of the greatest painters in the history of art. His ability to portray human dignity, vulnerability and feeling has influenced artists in every age.