Rembrandt van Rijn(1606-1669)
- Art Department
Rembrandt van Rijn is a brilliant Dutch artist. Born and raised in the family of an ordinary miller in the city of Leiden. Rembrandt worked there until 1632, and then moved to Amsterdam. Two years later, he married a girl Saskia from a wealthy family. The painter immortalized the image of his chosen one on many of his canvases, conveying all her femininity and beauty with special love and tenderness.
In Leiden, Rembrandt attended the Latin School at Leiden University, but showed the greatest interest in painting. At the age of thirteen, he was sent to study fine art with the Leiden historical painter Jacob van Swanenburg. From 1623, Rembrandt studied in Amsterdam with Pieter Lastman, who trained in Italy and specialized in historical, mythological and biblical subjects. Returning to Leiden in 1627, Rembrandt, together with Jan Lievens, opened his own workshop and began to recruit students. Within a few years he gained wide popularity. In 1631, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, where the dynamism and pathos of his paintings, characteristic of the Baroque aesthetics, won him wealthy admirers. The fame of Rembrandt as an extraordinary master spread throughout Amsterdam after he completed the group portrait 'The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp' (1632). Orders pour in to him one after another; at least fifty portraits date back to the first years of Rembrandt's stay in Amsterdam.
Throughout the 1640s, customers turned away from Rembrandt and students left, which is explained not so much by the ambiguous assessment of 'The Night Watch', but by the general turn of pictorial fashion towards scrupulous detailing. The logic of creative development led the artist in the exact opposite direction. Over the years, he began to favor bold brush strokes and sharp contrasts of light and shadow, hiding almost all background details. In total, Rembrandt created about 350 paintings, more than 100 drawings and about 300 etchings during his life. Rembrandt's achievements as a draftsman are not inferior to his achievements in the field of painting; his late drawings made with a reed pen are especially valued.
In Leiden, Rembrandt attended the Latin School at Leiden University, but showed the greatest interest in painting. At the age of thirteen, he was sent to study fine art with the Leiden historical painter Jacob van Swanenburg. From 1623, Rembrandt studied in Amsterdam with Pieter Lastman, who trained in Italy and specialized in historical, mythological and biblical subjects. Returning to Leiden in 1627, Rembrandt, together with Jan Lievens, opened his own workshop and began to recruit students. Within a few years he gained wide popularity. In 1631, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, where the dynamism and pathos of his paintings, characteristic of the Baroque aesthetics, won him wealthy admirers. The fame of Rembrandt as an extraordinary master spread throughout Amsterdam after he completed the group portrait 'The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Tulp' (1632). Orders pour in to him one after another; at least fifty portraits date back to the first years of Rembrandt's stay in Amsterdam.
Throughout the 1640s, customers turned away from Rembrandt and students left, which is explained not so much by the ambiguous assessment of 'The Night Watch', but by the general turn of pictorial fashion towards scrupulous detailing. The logic of creative development led the artist in the exact opposite direction. Over the years, he began to favor bold brush strokes and sharp contrasts of light and shadow, hiding almost all background details. In total, Rembrandt created about 350 paintings, more than 100 drawings and about 300 etchings during his life. Rembrandt's achievements as a draftsman are not inferior to his achievements in the field of painting; his late drawings made with a reed pen are especially valued.
