Rembrandt van Rijn

1606 - 1669
Netherlands

Rembrandt Harmenszohn van Rijn, finest of the Dutch painters and one of the greatest artists of all time, was born in Leyden, the son of a prosperous miller. After attending Latin school young Rembrandt studied painting, first in Leyden and then in Amsterdam under Peter Lastman, from whom he learned the technique of chiaroscuro-the dramatic use of light and shadow-as his teacher had learned it in Italy from Caravaggio.

Rembrandt's first studio was in Leyden, but in 1631 he moved to Amsterdam where he remained permanently. He was soon so busy with commissions for portraits that he needed many assistants. His work divides fairly distinctly into three different periods. His early works are sharply drawn and painted in a varied palette that was to decrease in range and direct proposition to this growing interest in light and shadow. In the years between 1640 and 1660, his middle period, he had developed a darker style with color applied in thick blobs, quick lines or dabs, and thinner washes that merge into a harmonious glow, bursting from a dark background to create rich, shimmering, and uneven surface effect.

After 1660, his technique became even freer, possessing a jewel-like richness of color, and expressing intense emotion. Rembrandt was a supreme master in every form of painting: poetic landscapes; penetrating psychological portraits; religious and mythological works that reveal a personal approach to Christianity; theatrical or exotic subjects; and warm still lifes. He was a superb draughtsman and throughout his life produced drawings and copperplate etchings that are magical in line and feeling.

His genius was recognized very early in Amsterdam and he was soon very wealthy, but as the years advanced and his interest in religious subjects increased, he lost sales and commissions. This, combined with the tragedy of his personal life and extravagant spending and mismanagement of his funds, made the final years of his life very difficult ones, but Rembrandt would not pander to public taste and continued to paint as he wished until his death in 1669. His influence upon all art since his time is inestimable.