Rembrandt van Rijn

Van Rijn Rembrandt (1606-1669)

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, usually referred to as Rembrandt , born in Leiden on July 15, 1606 or 1607 and died in Amsterdam on October 4, 1669, Is generally considered one of the greatest painters of the history of painting , including the Baroque painting , and one of the most important painters of the Dutch school of the xvii th century . Rembrandt has also made engravings and drawings and is one of the most important aquafortists in history. He lived during what historians call the Dutch Golden Age (roughly the xvii th century), in which culture, science, business and political influence of the Netherlands reached their peak.

Rembrandt has produced nearly 400 paintings , 300 etchings and 300 drawings. The hundred or so self - portraits he has made throughout his career allow him to follow his personal journey.

One of the major characteristics of his work is the use of light and darkness (a technique of chiaroscuro inspired by Caravaggio ) which attracts attention through the play of supported contrasts. The scenes he paints are intense and alive. He is not a painter of beauty or wealth, he shows compassion and humanity, which stand out in the expression of his characters, who are sometimes destitute or worn out by age. His favorite themes are portraiture (and self-portraits) as well as biblical scenes. Rembrandt also represents scenes from everyday life, and popular scenes also called genre scenes. His close family - Saskia, his first wife, his son Titus and his second concubine Hendrickje Stoffels - appear regularly in his paintings. He executed few painted landscapes , reserving the theme for his engraved work.

During the period of Leiden (1625-1631), the influence of Lastman is most striking. The paintings are modest in size but very detailed (costumes, jewelry). The themes are essentially religious and allegorical.
Upon his arrival in Amsterdam (1634-1636), Rembrandt used large canvases, powerful tones and painted more spectacular scenes, as well as many portraits.
Towards the end of the 1630s , he made many landscapes, as well as engravings inspired by the themes of nature, which is often seen aggressively (trees torn by storms, threatening clouds ...)
From 1640 , his work became more sober and reflected the family tragedies he experienced. Exuberance is replaced by an internalization of the feelings that torment him. The biblical scenes are more inspired by the New Testament than the Old Testament , which was the case in his previous works. The size of the canvases also decreases, with the notable exception of the Night Watch . The dark forces of nature give way to peaceful rural scenes in Holland.
In the 1650s , Rembrandt's style changed again. He goes back to painting large canvases and uses richer colors, brushstrokes regain strength. We imagine that he takes a distance from his previous work and that he also moves away from the fashion of the moment, which promotes detail and finesse of realization. He continues to draw inspiration from biblical themes, but in a more intimate style, preferring solitary characters to group scenes.
After the death of his companion Hendrickje Stoffels in 1663, the last years of his life are marked by many self-portraits, on which we see his face marked by suffering and marked by the hardships it has gone through.


Nearly 300 sheets are currently attributed to the painter (against more than 1300 in the 1950s). These are mostly style exercises, most of which are not directly related to an existing chart. The richest collections are kept in London, Amsterdam, Berlin and the Louvre Museum .

The painter used many techniques including blood , ink, black chalk . The themes are different but different from those of his paintings: few portraits and many landscapes.

Rembrandt had several students who were successful: Isaac of Jouderville (1612-1646), Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680), Gerard Dou (1613-1675), Willem Drost (1630-1680), Govaert Flinck (1615-1660), Carel Fabritius (1622-1654, considered the most talented), Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678), Nicolas Maes (1643-1693), Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621-1674).

Many works usually attributed to Rembrandt (such as The Man with the Golden Helmet , The Polish Rider or the Philosopher in Meditation ) have a fatherhood today disputed by the experts, especially those of the Rembrandt Research Project , a cooperation of six Dutch university professors. The painter encouraged his students to copy his works or took advantage of the sale of their paintings, thus paying for their education and training. The expertise is made even more difficult by the fact that Rembrandt does not always sign his paintings, that his signature has evolved several times and that some of his students sign their copy of the name of their master.