ART APPRECIATION – APRIL/MAY 2017 – REMBRANDT VAN RIJN

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born in Leiden in the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands) on July 15, 1606. He was the son of a miller. Despite the fact that he came from a family of relatively modest means, his parents took great care with his education. Rembrandt began his studies at the Latin School, and at the age of 14 he was enrolled at the University of Leiden. The program did not interest him, and he soon left to study art - first with a local master, Jacob van Swanenburch, and then, in Amsterdam, with Pieter Lastman, known for his historical paintings. After six months with Lastman, having mastered everything he had been taught, Rembrandt returned to Leiden, where he was soon so highly regarded that although barely 22 years old, he took his first pupils.

In 1631 at age 24 Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam. The event depicted in this painting occurred the next year in January 1632. Anatomy lessons were a social event in 17th century and were often captured on canvas. Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, who can be seen in the portrait explaining the muscles of the arm to medical professionals, was the official City Anatomist of the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons. Some of the spectators are various doctors who paid commissions to be included in the painting. The corpse is that of Aris Kindt, a criminal who was convicted for armed robbery and sentenced to death by hanging. Group portraiture flourished in Netherlands in the 17th century. Rembrandt had arrived in Amsterdam not long before a painter for this work was sought, and this was his first major commission in the city. He broke conventions of the genre in this work by creating a dramatic visual scene and placing the corpse in the center of the portrait. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is one of Rembrandt’s most well known paintings and has been often copied.

Three years after his arrival in Amsterdam, Rembrandt married Saskia van Uylenburgh. She was the cousin of a successful art dealer, and the union enhanced Rembrandt’s career, bringing him in contact with wealthy patrons who eagerly commissioned portraits. An exceptionally fine example from this period is the Portrait of Nicolaes Ruts. Nicolaes Ruts was a merchant who traded with Russia, the source, no doubt, of the rich furs in which he posed for this portrait. Rembrandt’s likeness of him, perhaps the first individual portrait commission the artist received from someone outside of his own family, was painted presumably for Ruts’ daughter Susanna. The dramatic contrasts in lighting and the detailed rendering of the varied textures are characteristic of Rembrandt’s early work.

Also early in his career, Rembrandt's mythological and religious works were much in demand, and he painted numerous dramatic masterpieces such as The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. The detailed rendering of the scene, the figures’ varied expressions, the relatively polished brushwork, and the bright coloring are characteristic of Rembrandt’s early style. The Storm on the Sea of Galilee is the only seascape ever painted by Rembrandt. It depicts Jesus calming the waves of the sea, saving the lives of the fourteen men aboard the vessel. Of these fourteen men, it is said Rembrandt included a self-portrait in the boat, next to Jesus and his twelve disciples. On March 18, 1990, thieves disguised as police officers stole this painting, along with twelve other works, from the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston. The paintings have never been recovered, and it is considered the biggest art theft in history. The empty frames of the paintings still hang in their original location, waiting to be recovered.

In 1639 Rembrandt and his wife moved to a prominent newly built house (now the Rembrandt House Museum). The burden of the purchase would be a primary cause for later financial difficulties. Rembrandt should easily have been able to pay the house off with his large income, but his spending always kept pace with his earnings. Additionally, the couple suffered several personal setbacks; their son Rumbartus died two months after his birth in 1635 and their daughter Cornelia died at just three weeks of age in 1638. In 1640, they had a second daughter, also named Cornelia, who died after living barely over a month. Only their fourth child, Titus, who was born in 1641, survived into adulthood.

Despite his personal tragedies, Rembrandt continued to paint. And it was in 1642 that he completed his arguably most famous work, which came to be known as The Night Watch. The work is a group portrait of the militia company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburgh (in the center) The painting is renowned for three characteristics: its colossal size (11.91 ft × 14.34 ft), the effective use of light and shadow, and the perception of motion in what would have traditionally been a static military portrait. Rembrandt’s mastery in making it appear to the viewer that the painting’s nearly human size figures are about to jump off the canvas and into real space is remarkable.

In the same year that he painted The Night Watch, Rembrandt’s wife Saskia died at age 29, probably from tuberculosis. Rembrandt's drawings of her on her sick and death bed are among his most moving works. Hendrickje Stoffels, engaged as his housekeeper about 1649, eventually became his common-law wife and was the model for many of his pictures going forward.

Even with Rembrandt's financial success as an artist, teacher, and eventually art dealer, his penchant for ostentatious living forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1656. An inventory of his collection of art and antiquities, taken before an auction to pay his debts, showed the breadth of Rembrandt's interests: ancient sculpture, Flemish and Italian Renaissance paintings, Far Eastern art, contemporary Dutch works, weapons, and armor. Unfortunately, the results of the auction - including the sale of his house - were disappointing. A new owner of his home added an upper story and roof, giving it the appearance it still bears. In 1911 it was turned into a Rembrandt museum, preserving it both as a shrine of a revered artist and as an imposing example of 17th Century Dutch architecture.

Mounting financial and personal problems in no way affected Rembrandt's work. If anything, his artistry increased as time went by. Some of the great paintings from this later period include The Jewish Bride (1667), Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar (1659), and The Prodigal Son, (1669), discussed below.

The Jewish Bride: This painting gained its current name in the early 19th century, when an Amsterdam art collector identified the subject as that of a Jewish father bestowing a necklace upon his daughter on her wedding day. This interpretation is no longer accepted, and the identity of the couple is uncertain. The ambiguity is heightened by the lack of anecdotal context, leaving only the central universal theme, that of a couple joined in love. Much speculation remains regarding the couple's identity. The most likely subject, however, is that of Isaac and Rebekah, as described in Genesis 26:8, and is supported by a drawing by Rembrandt of the same theme. According to Rembrandt biographer Christopher White, the completed composition is "one of the greatest expressions of the tender fusion of spiritual and physical love in the history of painting.”

Considered by many as the best self-portrait ever created, Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar is a work in which may be seen “the stresses and strains of a life compounded of creative triumphs and personal and financial reverses.” Rembrandt’s self- portraits are known for him not showing any mercy to himself and this painting, which was painted when he was 50 years old, showcases his ruthless and sincere depiction of himself. The most luminous area showcases his face. The artist is wearing a large beret or cap, and his collar is turned up; hence the name. Rembrandt is regarded, as one of the greatest artists in the genre of self-portraiture and this painting is one of his most grand examples.

The Return of the Prodigal Son is among the last of Rembrandt’s works and is believed to have been completed shortly before his death. The life-sized painting depicts the Biblical story of the prodigal son at the moment he returns to his father, regretting his sins and begging for forgiveness. The artwork demonstrates Rembrandt’s mastery as he uses expressive lighting and coloring to brilliantly evoke in the viewer the parable’s message of forgiveness.

The final years of Rembrandt’s life continued to be marred by sorrow. His beloved common- law wife Hendrickje died in 1663, and his son, Titus, in 1668 at only 27 years of age. Eleven months later, on October 4, 1669, Rembrandt, the master of light and shadow, passed away in Amsterdam at the age of 63.