Rembrandt paintings. Rembrandt - everything you need to know about the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt's artistic legacy

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born in the Dutch city of Leiden in 1606 on July 15. Rembrandt's father was a wealthy miller, his mother baked well, was the daughter of a baker. The surname "van Rijn" literally means "from the Rhine", that is, from the Rhine River, where Rembrandt's great-grandfathers had mills. Of the 10 children in the family, Rembrandt was the youngest. Other children followed in the footsteps of their parents, and Rembrandt chose a different path - an artistic one, and was educated at a Latin school.

At the age of 13, Rembrandt began to learn to draw, and also entered the city university. Age then did not bother anyone, the main thing at that time was knowledge at the level. Many scholars suggest that Rembrandt went to university not to study, but to get a deferment from the army.

Rembrandt's first teacher was Jacob van Swanenbürch.. In his workshop, the future artist spent about three years, then moved to Amsterdam to study with Peter Lastman. From 1625 to 1626 Rembrandt returned to his hometown, and made acquaintances with artists and some of Lastman's students.

Nevertheless, after much deliberation, Rembrandt decided that an artist's career should be done in the capital of Holland, and again moved to Amsterdam.

In 1634 Rembrandt married Saskia. By the time of their marriage, everyone had a good fortune (Rembrandt had paintings, and Saskia's parents left an impressive legacy). So it wasn't an arranged marriage. They truly loved each other passionately.

In 1635 - 1640s. wife bore Rembrandt three children, but they all died as newborns. In 1641, Saskia gave birth to a son, who was named Titus. The child survived, but, unfortunately, the mother herself died at the age of 29.

After the death of his wife, Rembrandt was not himself, he did not know what to do, and found solace in drawing. It was in the year when his wife died that he completed the painting "Night Watch". With Titus, the young father could not cope and therefore hired a nanny for the child - Gertje Dirks, who became his mistress. About 2 years have passed, and the nanny in the house has changed. She became a young girl Hendrikje Stoffels. What happened to Gertier Dirks? She sued Rembrandt, believing that he violated the marriage contract, but she lost the argument, and was sent to a correctional home, where she spent 5 years. Released, she died a year later.

The new nanny Hendrikje Stoffels bore Rembrandt two children. Their first child, a boy, died in infancy, and their daughter Karnelia, the only one who outlived her father.

Few people know that Rembrandt had a very peculiar collection, which included paintings by Italian artists, various drawings, engravings, various busts and even weapons.

Sunset of Rembrandt's life

Things were going badly for Rembrandt. There was not enough money, the number of orders decreased. Therefore, the artist sold part of his collection, but this did not save him either. He was on the verge of going to prison, but the court was in his favor, so he was allowed to sell all his property and pay off his debts. He even lived for some time in a house that no longer belonged to him.

Meanwhile, Titus and his mother organized a firm that traded in art objects in order to somehow help Rembrandt. In truth, until the end of his life, the artist never paid off many, but this did not spoil Rembrandt's reputation, he remained a worthy person in the eyes of people.

Rembrandt's death was very sad. In 1663, the artist's beloved, Hendrikje, died. Some time later, Rembrandt buried his son Titus and his bride. In 1669, on October 4, he himself left this world, but forever left a mark in the hearts of people who love him.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) was a Dutch painter, draftsman and etcher. Creativity is imbued with a desire for a deep, philosophical comprehension of reality and the inner world of a person with all the richness of his spiritual experiences.

Realistic and humanistic in its essence, it marked the pinnacle of the development of Dutch art of the 17th century, embodying high moral ideals, faith in the beauty and dignity of ordinary people in a brightly individual and perfect artistic form.

Rembrandt. Drawing "Huts under a sky that portends a storm" (1635)

Rembrandt's artistic heritage is exceptionally diverse: portraits, still lifes, landscapes, genre scenes, paintings on biblical, mythological and historical subjects. Rembrandt was an unsurpassed master of drawing and.

Rembrandt. Etching "The Mill" (1641)

The future great artist was born into a miller's family. After a brief study at the University of Leiden in 1620, he devoted himself to art. He studied painting with J. van Swanenbürch in Leiden (from 1620 - 1623) and P. Lastman in Amsterdam in 1623. Between 1625 and 1631 he worked in Leiden. An example of Lastman's influence on the artist's work is the painting " Allegory of music", painted by Rembrandt in 1626.

Rembrandt "Allegory of Music"

In pictures » Apostle Paul"(1629 - 1630 years) and" Simeon in the temple"(1631) Rembrandt was the first to use chiaroscuro as a means to enhance the spirituality and emotional expressiveness of images.

Rembrandt "The Apostle Paul"

In the same years, Rembrandt worked hard on the portrait, studying the facial expressions of the human face. The artist's creative search during this period is expressed in a series of self-portraits and portraits of the artist's family members. This is how Rembrandt portrayed himself at the age of 23.

Rembrandt "Self-portrait"

In 1632, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, where he soon married the wealthy patrician Saskia van Uylenbruch. The 30s of the 17th century for the artist were the years of family happiness and great artistic success. The family couple is shown in the picture » The prodigal son in the tavern"(1635).

Rembrandt "Prodigal Son in a Tavern" (1635)

At the same time, the artist paints the canvas " Christ during a storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee"(1633). The painting is unique in that it is the artist's only seascape.

Rembrandt "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee"

Painting " Anatomy Lesson by Dr. Tulp”(1632), in which the artist solved the problem of a group portrait in a new way, giving the composition a life of ease, and uniting people in the portrait with a single action, brought Rembrandt wide popularity. He received many orders, numerous students worked in his workshop.

Rembrandt "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp"

In custom-made portraits of wealthy burghers, the artist carefully conveyed facial features, the smallest details of clothing, and the brilliance of luxurious jewelry. This can be seen on the canvas Burgrave portrait', written in 1633. At the same time, the models often received a well-defined social characteristic.

Rembrandt "Portrait of a Burgrave"

More free and varied in their composition are his self-portraits and portraits of loved ones:

• » self-portrait', written in 1634. The painting is currently on display at the Louvre.

Rembrandt "Self-portrait" (1634)

• » Smiling Saskia". The portrait was painted in 1633. Today it is in the Dresden Art Gallery.

Rembrandt "Smiling Saskia"

These works are notable for their lively spontaneity and elevated composition, free manner of painting, major, light-filled, golden color scheme.

A bold challenge to classical canons and traditions in the artist's work can be traced on the example of the canvas » The Abduction of Ganymede', written in 1635. At the moment, the work is in the Dresden Art Gallery.

Rembrandt "The Rape of Ganymede"

Painting "Danae"

A vivid embodiment of the new aesthetic views of the artist was a monumental composition " Danae”(written in 1636), in which he enters into an argument with the great masters of the Italian Renaissance. The artist went against the generally accepted canons of the image, and created a beautiful picture that went beyond the then ideas of true beauty.

The nude figure of Danae, far from the classical ideals of female beauty, was executed by Rembrandt with bold realistic immediacy, and the artist contrasted the sublime beauty of spirituality and the warmth of a person’s intimate feeling with the ideal beauty of the images of Italian masters.

Rembrandt "Danae" (1636)

Subtle shades of emotional experiences were expressed by the painter in the paintings " David and Jonathan» (1642) and » holy family"(1645). High-quality reproductions of Rembrandt paintings can be used for decoration in many styles.

In 1656, Rembrandt was declared bankrupt and all his property was sold at a public auction. He was forced to move to the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam, where he spent the rest of his life.

Rembrandt "The Holy Family" (1645)

Painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son".

A cold misunderstanding of the Dutch burghers surrounded Rembrandt in the last years of his life. However, the artist continued to create. A year before his death, he began to create his ingenious canvas " Return of the prodigal son"(1668 - 1669), in which all artistic and moral and ethical issues were embodied.

In this picture, the artist creates a whole range of complex and deep human feelings. The main idea of ​​the picture is the beauty of human understanding, compassion and forgiveness. The climax, tension of feelings and the moment of resolution of passions following it are embodied in expressive poses and mean, laconic gestures of father and son.

Rembrandt "The Return of the Prodigal Son"

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is the most famous painter, etcher and draftsman of the "Golden Age". Universal recognition and fame, a sharp decline and poverty - this is how the biography of the great genius of art can be characterized. Rembrandt sought to convey the soul of a person through portraits; rumors and conjectures still circulate about many of the artist’s works, shrouded in mystery.

The beginning of the 17th century was calm for the Dutch state, which gained independence as a republic at the time of the revolution. Industrial production, agriculture and trade developed in the country.

In the ancient city of Leidin, located in the province of South Holland, Rembrandt, who was born on July 15, 1607, spent his childhood in a house on the Wedeshteg.

The boy grew up in a large family, in which he was the sixth child. The father of the future artist Harmen van Rijn was a wealthy man who owned a mill and a malt house. Among other things, Van Rein had two more houses in his property, and he also received a significant dowry from his wife Cornelia Neltier, so the large family lived in abundance. The mother of the future artist was the daughter of a baker and was versed in cooking, so the family table abounded with delicious dishes.

Despite their wealth, the Harmen family lived modestly, observing strict Catholic rules. The artist's parents, even after the Dutch Revolution, did not change their attitude to faith.

Self-portrait of Rembrandt at 23

Rembrandt was kind to his mother throughout his life. This is expressed in a portrait painted in 1639, which depicts a wise old woman with a kind and slightly sad look.

The family was alien to social events and the luxurious life of wealthy people. It is reasonable to assume that in the evenings the van Rijns gathered at the table and read books and the Bible: this was what most Dutch citizens did during the Golden Age.

The windmill owned by Harmen was located on the banks of the Rhine: before the boy's gaze a beautiful landscape of an azure river opened up, which is illuminated by the rays of the sun, making their way through a small window of the building and passing through the fogs of flour dust. Perhaps, due to childhood memories, the future artist learned to skillfully master colors, light and shadow.

As a child, Rembrandt grew up as an observant boy. The open spaces of the streets of Leidin provided sources of inspiration: in the trading markets one could meet dissimilar people of different nationalities and learn how to sketch their faces on paper.

Initially, the boy went to a Latin school, but he was not interested in studying. Young Rembrandt did not like the exact sciences, preferring drawing.

The childhood of the future artist was happy, as the parents saw their son's hobbies, and when the boy was 13 years old, he was sent to study with the Dutch artist Jacob van Swanenburg. Little is known from the biography of Rembrandt's first teacher; the representative of late Mannerism did not have a huge artistic heritage, which is why it is almost impossible to trace Jacob's influence on the formation of Rembrandt's style.

In 1623, the young man went to the capital, where the painter Peter Lastman became his second teacher, who taught Rembrandt painting and engraving for six months.

Painting

Training with a mentor was successful, impressed by Lastman's paintings, the young man quickly mastered the drawing technique. Bright and saturated colors, the play of shadows and light, as well as scrupulous elaboration of even the smallest details of the flora - that's what Peter conveyed to the eminent student.

In 1627, Rembrandt returned from Amsterdam to his native city. Confident in his abilities, the artist, together with his friend Jan Lievens, opens his own school of painting, which in a short time gained popularity among the Dutch. Lievens and Rembrandt were on a par with each other, sometimes young people carefully worked on one canvas, putting part of their own style into the drawing.

The 20-year-old young artist gained fame for his detailed early work, which includes:

• "The Stoning of the Holy Apostle Stephen" (1625),
• "Palamedea before Agamemnon" (1626),
• "David with the Head of Goliath" (1627),
• "The Abduction of Europe" (1632),

The young man continues to draw inspiration from the streets of the city, walking through the squares in order to meet a random passerby and capture his portrait with a chisel on a wooden board. Rembrandt also makes a series of engravings with self-portraits and portraits of numerous relatives.

Thanks to the talent of a young painter, Rembrandt was noticed by the poet Konstantin Heygens, who admired the canvases of van Rijn and Lievens, calling them promising artists. “Judas returns thirty pieces of silver,” written by a Dutchman in 1629, he compares with the famous canvases of Italian masters, but finds flaws in the drawing. Thanks to the connections of Constantine, Rembrandt soon acquires rich art admirers: because of the mediation of Haygens, the Prince of Orange commissions several religious works from the artist, such as Before Pilate (1636).

The real success for the artist comes in Amsterdam. June 8, 1633 Rembrandt meets the daughter of a wealthy burgher Saskia van Uylenbürch and wins a strong position in society. The artist painted most of the canvases while in the capital of the Netherlands.

Rembrandt is inspired by the beauty of his beloved, so he often paints her portraits. Three days after the wedding, van Rijn painted a woman with a wide-brimmed hat in silver pencil. Saskia appeared in the paintings of the Dutchman in a cozy home environment. The image of this plump-cheeked woman appears on many canvases, for example, the mysterious girl in the painting "Night Watch" strongly resembles the artist's beloved.

In 1632, Rembrandt was glorified by the painting "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp". The fact is that van Rijn departed from the canons of standard group portraits, which were depicted with faces turned towards the viewer. Extremely realistic portraits of the doctor and his students made the artist famous.

In 1635, the famous painting based on the biblical story "The Sacrifice of Abraham" was painted, which was appreciated in secular society.

In 1642, van Rijn received a commission from the Shooting Society for a group portrait to decorate the new building with canvas. The painting was mistakenly called "Night Watch". It was stained with soot, and only in the 17th century, researchers came to the conclusion that the action unfolding on the canvas takes place in the daytime.

Rembrandt thoroughly depicted every detail of the musketeers on the move: as if time stopped at a certain moment when the militias left the dark courtyard so that van Rijn captured them on the canvas.

The customers did not like that the Dutch painter departed from the canons that developed in the 17th century. Then group portraits were ceremonial, and the participants were portrayed full face without any static.

According to scientists, this painting was the reason for the bankruptcy of the artist in 1653, as it scared away potential customers.

Technique and paintings

Rembrandt believed that the true goal of the artist was to study nature, so all the paintings of the painter turned out to be too photographic: the Dutchman tried to convey every emotion of the depicted person.

Like many talented masters of the Golden Age era, Rembrandt has religious motifs. On the canvases of van Rijn, not just captured faces are drawn, but entire plots with their own history.

In the painting “The Holy Family”, which was painted in 1645, the faces of the characters are natural, the Dutchman seems to want to transfer viewers to the cozy atmosphere of a simple peasant family with the help of a brush and paints. On the works of van Rijn, one cannot trace a certain pomposity. said that Rembrandt painted the Madonna in the form of a Dutch peasant woman. Indeed, throughout his life, the artist drew inspiration from the people around him, it is possible that on the canvas a woman, copied from a maid, is lulling a baby to sleep.

Rembrandt's The Holy Family, 1646

Like many artists, Rembrandt is full of mysteries: after the death of the creator, researchers pondered for a long time about the secrets of his paintings.

For example, on the painting "Danae" (or "Aegina") van Rijn worked for 11 years, starting in 1636. The canvas depicts a young maiden after awakening from sleep. The plot is based on the ancient Greek myth of Danae, daughter of the king of Argos and mother of Perseus.

The researchers of the canvas did not understand why the naked maiden did not look like Saskia. However, after the x-ray, it became clear that Danae was originally painted in the image of Eilenbürch, but after the death of his wife, van Rijn returned to the picture and changed Danae's facial features.

Also among art historians there were disputes about the heroine depicted on the canvas. Rembrandt did not sign the title of the painting, and the interpretation of the plot was hampered by the absence of a golden rain, according to legend, in the form of which Zeus appeared to Danae. Also, scientists were embarrassed by the engagement ring on the girl's ring finger, which was not consistent with ancient Greek mythology. Rembrandt's masterpiece "Danae" is in the Russian Hermitage Museum.

The Jewish Bride (1665) is another enigmatic painting by van Rijn. This name was given to the canvas at the beginning of the 19th century, but it is still unknown who is depicted on the canvas, because a young girl and a man are dressed in ancient costumes reminiscent of biblical clothes. Also popular is the painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (1669), which took 6 years to create.

Fragment of Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son"

If we talk about the style of writing paintings by Rembrandt, then the artist used a minimum of colors, while managing to make the paintings “alive”, thanks to the play of light and shadows.

Van Rijn also successfully manages to depict facial expressions: all the people on the canvases of the great painter seem to be alive. For example, in the portrait of an old man - Rembrandt's father (1639), every wrinkle is visible, as well as a wise and sad look.

Personal life

In 1642, Saskia died of tuberculosis, the beloved had a son, Titus (three other children died in infancy), with whom Rembrandt maintained friendly relations. At the end of 1642, the artist meets with a young special Gertier Dirks. Saskia's parents were upset by the way the widower handled his dowry while living in luxury. Dirks later sues his lover for breaking his promise to marry her. From the second woman, the artist had a daughter, Cornelia.

Painting by Rembrandt "Saskia in the image of the goddess Flora"

In 1656, due to financial difficulties, Rembrandt declared himself bankrupt and left for a secluded house on the outskirts of the capital.

Van Rijn's life did not go on growing, but on the contrary, went into decline: a happy childhood, wealth and recognition were replaced by departed customers and a beggarly old age. The mood of the artist can be traced on his canvases. So, living with Saskia, he paints joyful and sunny pictures, for example, “Self-portrait with Saskia on his knees” (1635). On the canvas, van Rijn laughs with sincere laughter, and a radiant light illuminates the room.

If earlier the artist's paintings were detailed, then at the stage of late creativity, Rembrandt uses broad strokes, and the sun's rays are replaced by darkness.

The painting "The Conspiracy of Julius Civilis", written in 1661, was not paid for by the customers, because the faces of the participants in the conspiracy were not scrupulously worked out, unlike van Rijn's previous works.

Painting by Rembrandt "Portrait of the son of Titus"

Shortly before his death, living in poverty, in 1665 Rembrandt painted a self-portrait in the image of Zeuxis. Zeukis is an ancient Greek painter who died an ironic death: the artist was amused by the portrait of Aphrodite he painted in the form of an old woman, and he died of laughter. In the portrait, Rembrandt laughs, the artist did not hesitate to put a share of black humor into the canvas.

Death

Rembrandt interred his son Titus, who died of the plague, in 1668. This sad event sharply worsened the state of mind of the artist. Van Rijn died on 4 October 1669 and was buried in the Netherlandish Westerkerk church in Amsterdam.

Statue of Rembrandt at Rembrandtplein in Amsterdam

During his lifetime, the artist painted about 350 canvases and 100 drawings. It took mankind two centuries to appreciate this great artist.

, history painting and self-portrait

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn(dutch. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn [ˈrɛmbrɑnt ˈɦɑrmə(n)soːn vɑn ˈrɛin], 1606-1669) - Dutch artist, engraver, great master of chiaroscuro, the largest representative of the golden age of Dutch painting. He managed to embody in his works the whole range of human experiences with such emotional richness, which fine art did not know before him. Rembrandt's works, extremely diverse in genre, open to the viewer the timeless spiritual world of human experiences and feelings.

Biography

Years of apprenticeship

Rembrandt Harmenszoon ("son of Harmen") van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606 (according to some sources, in 1607) in a large family of a wealthy mill owner Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn in Leiden. The mother's family remained faithful to the Catholic faith even after the Dutch Revolution.

"Allegory of Music" of 1626 - an example of Lastman's influence on the young Rembrandt

In Leiden, Rembrandt attended the Latin school at the university, but his greatest interest was in painting. At the age of 13, he was sent to study fine art with the Leiden historical painter Jacob van Swanenbürch, a Catholic by faith. Researchers have not been able to find Rembrandt's works related to this period, so the question of Swanenbürch's influence on the formation of Rembrandt's creative manner remains open: too little is known today about this Leiden artist.

In 1623, Rembrandt studied in Amsterdam with Pieter Lastman, who had been trained in Italy and specialized in historical, mythological and biblical subjects. Returning to Leiden in 1627, Rembrandt, together with his friend Jan Lievens, opened his own workshop and began to recruit students. Within a few years he gained wide popularity.

Influence of Lastman and the Caravagists

Lastman's passion for variegation and detail in execution had a huge impact on the young artist. It clearly comes through in his first surviving works - "The Stoning of St. Stephen" (1629), "A Scene from Ancient History" (1626) and "The Baptism of a Eunuch" (1626). In comparison with his mature works, they are unusually colorful, the artist strives to carefully write out every detail of the material world, as accurately as possible to convey the exotic setting of the biblical story. Almost all the characters appear before the viewer dressed up in fancy oriental outfits, shining with jewels, which creates an atmosphere of major, splendor, festivity (“Allegory of Music”, 1626; “David before Saul”, 1627).

The final works of the period - "Tobit and Anna", "Balaam and the donkey" - reflect not only the rich imagination of the artist, but also his desire to convey the dramatic experiences of his heroes as expressively as possible. Like other masters of the Baroque, he begins to comprehend the meaning of sharply sculpted chiaroscuro for conveying emotions. His teachers in relation to working with light were the Utrecht caravagists, but even more so he was guided by the works of Adam Elsheimer, a German who worked in Italy. The most caravagist paintings by Rembrandt are “The Parable of the Foolish Rich Man” (1627), “Simeon and Anna in the Temple” (1628), “Christ at Emmaus” (1629).

Adjacent to this group is the painting “The Artist in His Studio” (1628; perhaps this is a self-portrait), in which the artist captured himself in the studio at the moment of contemplating his own creation. The canvas that is being worked on is brought to the forefront of the picture; in comparison with him, the author himself seems to be a dwarf.

Workshop in Leiden

One of the unresolved issues of Rembrandt's creative biography is his artistic overlap with Lievens. Working side by side, they took on the same plot more than once, such as Samson and Delilah (1628/1629) or The Resurrection of Lazarus (1631). In part, both were drawn to Rubens, who was then known as the best artist in all of Europe, sometimes Rembrandt borrowed the artistic finds of Livens, sometimes it was exactly the opposite. For this reason, the distinction between the works of Rembrandt and Lievens of 1628-1632 presents certain difficulties for art historians. Among his other famous works is "Valaam's donkey" (1626).

In 1629, the artist was noticed by the secretary of the Prince of Orange, Constantine Huygens (father of Christian Huygens), a well-known poet and patron of the arts at that time. In one of the letters of that time, Huygens extols Lievens and Rembrandt as promising young artists, and he compares Rembrandt's painting "Judas returning thirty pieces of silver" with the best works of Italy and even antiquity. It was Huygens who helped Rembrandt contact wealthy clients and commissioned him several religious paintings for the Prince of Orange.

Development of your own style

This is how Rembrandt portrayed himself at the age of 23.

In 1631, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, where the dynamism inherent in the aesthetics of the Baroque and the external pathos of the canvases found him many wealthy admirers, who, like Huygens, saw in him a new Rubens. A year later, Lievens closed the Leiden workshop and left for England, where he fell under the influence of van Dyck, then, until returning to his homeland in 1644, he worked in Antwerp.

The period of moving to Amsterdam was marked in Rembrandt's creative biography by the creation of many studies of male and female heads, in which he explores the originality of each model, experiments with moving facial expressions. These small works, later mistaken for images of the artist's father and mother, became a real school of Rembrandt the portrait painter. It was portraiture that allowed the artist at that time to attract orders from wealthy Amsterdam burghers and thereby achieve commercial success.

In the early Amsterdam years, a prominent place in the work of Rembrandt is occupied by the genre of self-portrait; depicting himself in fantastic attire and intricate poses, he outlines new ways for the development of his art. Sometimes the elderly characters of sketches, dressed up by the artist in luxurious oriental costumes, are transformed by his imagination into biblical characters; such is the pensive "Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem" (1630). For the stadtholder Frederick-Heinrich of Orange, he creates paired canvases "Exaltation of the Cross" (1633) and "Descent from the Cross" (1632/1633), inspired by Rubens' multi-figure engravings.

Success in Amsterdam

The fame of Rembrandt as an outstanding master spread around Amsterdam after he completed the group portrait “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp” (1632), in which attentive surgeons were not lined up in parallel rows of heads facing the viewer, as was customary in portraiture of that time, but strictly distributed in a pyramidal composition, which made it possible to psychologically unite all the actors into a single group. The richness of facial expressions of each face and the dramatic use of chiaroscuro sums up years of experimentation, testifying to the onset of the artist's creative maturity.

The first years in Amsterdam were the happiest in Rembrandt's life. The marriage with Saskia van Uilenbürch, which took place in 1634, opens the doors of the mansions of wealthy burghers to the artist, to which her father, the burgomaster of Leeuwarden, belonged. Orders pour in to him one after another; at least fifty portraits date from the first years of Rembrandt's stay in Amsterdam. Conservative Mennonites especially favored him. A lot of noise was made by his double portrait of the Mennonite preacher Cornelis Anslo, who was sung in verse by Vondel himself.

Rembrandt's material well-being allowed him to acquire his own mansion (see Rembrandt House Museum), which he filled with art objects he bought from antiquarians. These were not only paintings by Italian masters and engravings, but also antique sculpture, weapons, musical instruments. To study the great predecessors, he did not need to leave Amsterdam, because in the city then one could see such masterpieces as the Titian “Portrait of Gerolamo (?) Barbarigo” and the portrait of Baltazar Castiglione by Raphael.

Among the most significant portraits of those years are images of Saskia - sometimes at home, lying in bed, sometimes in luxurious robes (Kassel portrait, 1634) and theatrical guises ("Saskia in the form of Flora", 1634). In 1641 their son Titus was born; three more children died in infancy. The excess of the artist's vitality during the years of marriage with Saskia is expressed with the greatest bravura in the painting The Prodigal Son in a Tavern (1635). The iconography of this illustrious work derives from the moralistic depictions of the prodigal son's depravity in the biblical parable.

Saskia died a year after the birth of her son, and a period of continuous personal loss began in Rembrandt's life.

Dialogue with Italians

Rembrandt’s creative dialogue with great Italian artists is indicated not only by portrait works, but also by multi-figured paintings on mythological and biblical themes, reflecting the artist’s concern for external effects and in this respect consonant with the works of the masters of baroque Italy.

As in his years with Lastman, Rembrandt's creative imagination calls for biblical subjects with relatively undeveloped iconography. In The Feast of Belshazzar (1635), genuine horror is written on the faces of the characters in the picture, the impression of anxiety is enhanced by the dramatic lighting of the scene. No less dynamic is The Sacrifice of Abraham (1635) - a knife frozen in the air gives the scene the immediacy of a photographic image. A later version of this composition from Munich is an example of how well Rembrandt's paintings were copied by his apprentices.

Rembrandt also developed the effects of light and shadow in etchings (“Christ before Pilate”, 1636), which were often preceded by numerous preparatory drawings. Throughout his subsequent life, etchings brought Rembrandt no less income than painting itself. As an etcher, he was especially noted for his use of dry point, dynamic stroke, and puff technique.

"The night Watch"

Rembrandt. "Night watch" (1642)

In 1642, Rembrandt received a commission for one of six group portraits of the Amsterdam musketeers for the new building of the Shooting Society; two other commissions went to his students. When creating this four-meter painting - the largest of his works - Rembrandt broke with the canons of Dutch portraiture, for two centuries he predicted the artistic finds of the 19th century - the era of realism and impressionism. The models were depicted very directly, in motion, which did not please the customers at all, many of which were pushed into the background:

Rembrandt’s monumental creation, which captures the sudden march of a rifle company led by its commanders, is decided by him as a mass scene, permeated with the movement of a crowd of specific and nameless characters and built on a flickering contrast of brightly lit color spots and shaded areas. The randomness of the situation depicted on the canvas, which creates the impression of discord and tension, is at the same time imbued with solemnity and heroic enthusiasm, and is closer in its sound to the historical composition.

Such a bold combination of a group portrait with war memories of the Dutch Revolution scared away some customers. Rembrandt's biographers argue about the extent to which the failure of The Night Watch (it was precisely such an erroneous name that the painting subsequently received, hidden under darkened varnish and soot until the restoration of the 1940s) influenced the artist's further career. In all likelihood, the widespread legend about the failure of this work has no serious basis. The conspiracy version of the Night Watch story is given in the films The Night Watch (2007) and Rembrandt. I blame! » (2008).

Whatever the reasons for the cooling of the Amsterdam public towards Rembrandt, the result of a change in tastes was the fading of his fame and gradual impoverishment. After The Night Watch, only a few students remain in Rembrandt's studio. His former apprentices, having borrowed and developed any one feature of the early Rembrandt, become more successful and sought-after artists than their teacher. Especially characteristic in this regard is Govert Flinck, who perfectly mastered the external bravura of the dynamic Rembrandt paintings of the 1630s. Leiden Gerard Dou - one of the first students of Rembrandt - remained under the influence of Lastman's aesthetics of paintings like the 1626 Allegory of Music all his life. Fabricius, who worked in the workshop around 1640, willingly experimented with perspective and developed light backgrounds, which brought him outstanding success in Delft.

Transition period

There is little information about Rembrandt's private life in the 1640s. Of the disciples of this period, only Nicholas Mas of Dordrecht is known. Apparently, the artist continued to live in grand style, as before. The family of the late Saskia expressed concern about how he disposed of her dowry. Titus' nanny, Gertje Dirks, sued him for breaking his promise to marry; in order to settle this incident, the artist had to fork out.

In the late 1640s, Rembrandt became friends with his young servant Hendrickje Stoffels, whose image flashes in many portrait works of this period: Flora (1654), Bathing Woman (1654), Hendrickje at the Window (1655). The parish council condemned Hendrickje for "sinful cohabitation" when, in 1654, her daughter Cornelia was born with the artist. During these years, Rembrandt moves away from topics that have a grandiose national or universal sound. Picturesque works of this period are not numerous.

The artist worked for a long time on engraved portraits of burgomaster Jan Six (1647) and other influential burghers. All the techniques and engraving techniques known to him went into use in the manufacture of the carefully crafted etching “Christ Healing the Sick”, better known as the “Leaf of a Hundred Guilders”, - it was for such a huge price for the 17th century that it was once sold. He worked on this etching for seven years, from 1643 to 1649, striking with the subtlety of the play of light and shade. In 1661, work continued on the etching “Three Crosses” created in 1653 (not finished).

In the years of life's adversity, the artist's attention is attracted by landscapes with frowning clouds, heavy winds and other attributes of a romantically agitated nature in the tradition of Rubens and Segers. The "Winter Landscape" of 1646 belongs to the pearls of Rembrandt's realism. However, the pinnacle of Rembrandt's skill as a landscape painter was not so much paintings as drawings and etchings, such as The Mill (1641) and The Three Trees (1643). He masters other new genres for himself - still life (with game and skinned carcasses) and equestrian portrait (although, by all accounts, Rembrandt never succeeded in horses).

Scenes of everyday domestic life, such as the two "Holy families" of 1645 and 1646, receive a poetic interpretation in these years. Together with The Adoration of the Shepherds (1646) and Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1647), they allow us to speak of Rembrandt's tendency to idealize the patriarchal way of family life. These works are warmed by warm feelings of family closeness, love, compassion. Chiaroscuro in them reaches an unprecedented richness of shades. The coloring is especially warm, with a predominance of shimmering reds and golden browns.

Late Rembrandt

In 1653, experiencing financial difficulties, the artist transferred almost all his property to his son Titus, after which he filed for bankruptcy in 1656. After the sale of the house and property in 1657-1658 (an interesting catalog of the Rembrandt art collection has been preserved), the artist moved to the outskirts of Amsterdam, to the Jewish quarter, where he spent the rest of his life. The person closest to him in those years, apparently, remained Titus; it is his images that are most numerous. On some, he appears as a prince from a fairy tale, on others - an angel woven from the sun's rays. The death of Titus in 1668 was one of the last strokes of fate for the artist; he himself was gone a year later.

"Matthew and the Angel" (1661). Perhaps the model for the angel was Titus.

A distinctive feature of Rembrandt's work in the 1650s is the clarity and monumentality of large-figure compositions. Characteristic in this regard is the work “Aristotle with a bust of Homer”, performed in 1653 for the Sicilian aristocrat Antonio Ruffo and sold in 1961 by his heirs at an auction to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a record amount of more than two million dollars at that time. Aristotle is immersed in deep thought; the inner light seems to come from his face and from the bust of Homer, on which he laid his hand.

• Rembrandt old men

Last works

The artistic genius of Rembrandt developed in ascending order. His latest works represent a unique phenomenon in the history of painting. The secret of their sticky colors, as if flowing down the canvas, has not yet been unraveled. The figures are monumental and deliberately close to the front plane of the canvas. The artist dwells on rare biblical subjects, the search for correspondences to which in the Bible is still occupied by researchers of his work. He is attracted by such moments of life when human experiences are manifested with the greatest force.

Deep dramatic tension is characteristic of such works as Artaxerxes, Haman and Esther"(1660) and" Denial of the Apostle Peter"(1660). In terms of the technique of execution, they are consonant with the latest paintings, united by a family theme: the unfinished Return of the Prodigal Son (1666/1669), a family portrait from Braunschweig (1668/1669), etc. "Jewish Bride" (1665). The dating of all these works is conditional, the circumstances of their creation are surrounded by mystery. Researchers find it difficult to find words to describe their thick “colors iridescent and smoldering in a golden haze”, applied to the canvas with a spatula, or a palette knife:

There is no active action, static, outwardly restrained characters, sometimes shrouded in the radiance of brocade clothes, protrude from the shaded space surrounding them. The dominant dark golden-brown tones subdue all colors, among which a special role belongs to shades of red burning from the inside, like smoldering coals. Dense relief strokes, permeated with the movement of a luminous mass of paint, are combined in shaded areas with transparent glazes written in a thin layer. The texture of the colorful surface of the works of the late Rembrandt seems to be a shimmering jewel. The exciting humanity of his images is marked by a mysterious beauty.

In the Cologne self-portrait of 1662, the author’s features are distorted by a bitter smile, and in the last self-portraits of 1669 (the Uffizi Gallery, the London National Gallery and the Mauritshuis), despite his conspicuous physical weakness, he calmly looks fate in the face. Rembrandt died on October 4, 1669 in Amsterdam. He was buried in the Amsterdam church Westerkerk. In total, during his life, Rembrandt created about 350 paintings, more than 100 drawings and about 300 etchings. The achievements of Rembrandt as a draftsman are not inferior to his achievements in the field of painting; especially prized are his later drawings made with reed pen.

Attribution issues

Until recently, one of the insoluble problems for the researcher of Rembrandt's work was the huge number of copies and replicas from his canvases, which from time immemorial were held in catalogs under his name. So, for example, there are ten versions of the painting “Judas returns thirty pieces of silver”, which cannot be unambiguously attributed to a particular artist.

In 1968, the Rembrandt research project was launched in Amsterdam, with the aim of compiling a verified register of Rembrandt's works using the latest attribution methods. The final catalog of the project, published in 2014, contains a list of 346 paintings, while at the beginning of the 20th century it was believed that about 800 paintings belonged to Rembrandt. For example, out of 12 paintings exhibited in the Wallace Collection under the name of a great artist, the project initially confirmed the Rembrandt authorship of only one, although later their number increased to five. As for the paintings by Rembrandt exhibited in Russian museums, according to the catalog, there are only three works by Rembrandt in the Pushkin Museum, and 14 in the Hermitage.

Students

"A hut under a sky that portends a storm." Drawing (1635)

Posthumous glory

It took mankind two centuries to fully appreciate the significance of Rembrandt's work. Although Giovanni Castiglione and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo were inspired by his etchings, the courage of Rembrandt as a painter and the accuracy of his observations as a draftsman first gained recognition in the 19th century, when the artists of the realistic school of Courbet (and in Russia, the Wanderers) opposed his deeply felt poetry of light and shadow unquestioning clarity and clarity of French academicism.

A hundred years ago, the Imperial Hermitage could boast of the largest collection of Rembrandt paintings, however, in the 20th century, part of this collection was sold, some paintings were transferred to the Pushkin Museum, the authorship of others was disputed. Throughout the 20th century, the Dutch were painstakingly buying up Rembrandt's paintings and returning them to their homeland; as a result of these efforts, the largest number of Rembrandt paintings can now be seen in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. One of the central squares of Amsterdam, Botermarkt, in 1876 it received its modern name Rembrandt Square (Dutch. Rembrandtplein) in honor of the great artist. In the center of the square is a monument to Rembrandt. A museum has also been operating in the Amsterdam House of Artists since 1911, where mainly etchings are exhibited. In 2009, a crater on the planet Mercury, one of the largest in the solar system, was named after the artist.

To the cinema

• Rembrandt / Rembrandt - dir. Alexander Korda (UK, 1936). Starring Charles Lawton
• "Rembrandt: Portrait 1669" / Rembrandt fecit 1669 - dir. Jos Stelling (Netherlands, 1977). As Ton de Koff.
• "Rembrandt" / Rembrandt - dir. |Charles Matton (Germany, France, Netherlands, 1999)
• "Night Watch" / Nightwatching - dir. Peter Greenaway (Great Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Poland, 2007). As Martin Freeman
• "Rembrandt. I blame! » / Rembrandt's J'accuse - dir. Peter Greenaway (UK, 2008). As Martin Freeman

see also

Notes

1. German National Library, Berlin State Library, Bavarian State Library, etc. Record #11859964X // General Regulatory Control (GND) - 2012-2016.
2. Rembrandt
3. Benezit Dictionary of Artists - 2006. - ISBN 978-0-19-977378-7, 978-0-19-989991-3
4. Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rhijn - 2009.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

The largest representative of the golden age, artist, engraver, great master of chiaroscuro - and all this in one name Rembrandt.

Rembrandt was born on July 15, 1606 in Leiden. This great Dutch artist managed to embody in his works the whole range of human experiences with such emotional richness that fine art had not known before him.

Life

He grew up in a large family of wealthy mill owner Harmen Gerritszon van Rijn. Among other things, the property of Van Rein had two more houses, and he also received a significant dowry from his wife Cornelia Neltier. The mother of the future artist was the daughter of a baker and was versed in cooking. Even after the Dutch Revolution, the mother's family remained faithful to the Catholic religion.

In Leiden, Rembrandt attended the Latin school at the university, but did not like the exact sciences, he showed the greatest interest in painting. Realizing this fact, his parents sent Rembrandt to study fine art at the age of 13 to the Leiden historical painter Jacob van Swanenbürch, who was a Catholic. Diverse in genre and subject matter, Rembrandt's works are imbued with the ideas of morality, spiritual beauty and dignity of an ordinary person, understanding of the incomprehensible complexity of his inner world, the versatility of his intellectual wealth, the depth of his spiritual experiences. Very little information has come down to us about Jacob, so both historians and art critics cannot say for sure about the influence of Swanenbergh on Rembrandt's creative manner.

Then, in 1623, he studied in Amsterdam with the then fashionable painter Pieter Lastman, after which, returning to Leiden, in 1625 he opened his own workshop together with his fellow countryman Jan Lievens.

Pitera Lastman trained in Italy and specialized in historical, mythological and biblical subjects. When Rembrandt opened a workshop and began to recruit students, he became considerably famous in a short time. If you look at the first works of the artist, you can immediately understand that Lastman's style - a passion for variegation and pettiness of performance, had a huge impact on the young artist. For example, his work “The Stoning of St. Stephen" (1629), "A Scene from Ancient History" (1626) and "The Baptism of a Eunuch" (1626), are very bright, unusually colorful, Rembrandt strives to carefully write out every detail of the material world. Almost all the characters appear before the viewer dressed up in fancy oriental outfits, shining with jewels, which creates an atmosphere of majority, splendor, festivity.

In 1628, the twenty-two-year-old artist was recognized as a "highly famous" master, a famous portrait painter.

The painting “Judas Returns the Silver Pieces” (1629) evoked an enthusiastic review from the famous connoisseur of painting Constantine Huygens, secretary of the stadtholder Frederick Hendrik of Orange: “... this body trembling with miserable trembling is what I prefer to good taste of all times.”

Thanks to the connections of Constantine, Rembrandt soon acquires rich art admirers: because of the mediation of Haygens, the Prince of Orange commissions several religious works from the artist, such as Christ before Pilate (1636).

The real success for the artist comes in Amsterdam. June 8, 1633 Rembrandt meets the daughter of a wealthy burgher Saskia van Uylenbürch and wins a strong position in society. The artist painted most of the canvases while in the capital of the Netherlands.

Amsterdam - a bustling port and industrial city, which attracted goods and curiosities from all over the world, where people grew rich in trade and banking transactions, where the outcasts of feudal Europe rushed in search of shelter, and where the well-being of wealthy burghers coexisted with depressing poverty, connects strong ties with the artist .

The Amsterdam period of Rembrandt's work began with the overwhelming success that Dr. Tulp's Anatomy Lesson (1632, The Hague, Mauritshuis) brought him, which changed the tradition of the Dutch group portrait. Rembrandt contrasted the usual demonstration of people of the general profession posing for the artist with the dramaturgy of a freely decided scene, the participants of which are members of the guild of surgeons, listening to their colleague, united intellectually and spiritually by active involvement in the process of scientific research.

Rembrandt is inspired by the beauty of his beloved, so he often paints her portraits. Three days after the wedding, van Rijn painted a woman with a wide-brimmed hat in silver pencil. Saskia appeared in the paintings of the Dutchman in a cozy home environment. The image of this plump-cheeked woman appears on many canvases, for example, the mysterious girl in the painting "Night Watch" strongly resembles the artist's beloved.

The thirties in the life of Rembrandt were a period of fame, wealth and family happiness. He received many orders, was surrounded by students, passionately carried away by collecting works of Italian, Flemish and Dutch painters, antique sculpture, minerals, marine plants, ancient weapons, objects of oriental art; in the work on the paintings, the exhibits of the collection often served the artist as props.

Rembrandt's works of this period are extremely varied; they testify to the tireless, sometimes painful search for an artistic understanding of the spiritual and social essence of man and nature and demonstrate trends that relentlessly, step by step, bring the artist into conflict with society.

In portraits “for himself” and self-portraits, the artist freely experiments with composition and chiaroscuro effects, changes the tone of the color scheme, dresses his models in fantastic or exotic clothes, varies poses, gestures, accessories (“Flora”, 1634, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum ).

In 1635, the famous painting based on the biblical story "The Sacrifice of Abraham" was painted, which was appreciated in secular society.

In 1642, van Rijn received a commission from the Shooting Society for a group portrait to decorate the new building with canvas. The painting was mistakenly called "Night Watch". It was stained with soot, and only in the 17th century, researchers came to the conclusion that the action unfolding on the canvas takes place in the daytime.

Rembrandt thoroughly depicted every detail of the musketeers on the move: as if time stopped at a certain moment when the militias left the dark courtyard so that van Rijn captured them on the canvas.

The customers did not like that the Dutch painter departed from the canons that developed in the 17th century. Then group portraits were ceremonial, and the participants were portrayed full face without any static.

According to scientists, this painting was the reason for the bankruptcy of the artist in 1653, as it scared away potential customers.

The tragic changes in the personal fate of Rembrandt (the death of newborn children, mother, in 1642 - the illness and death of Saskia, who left him a nine-month-old son Titus), the deterioration of his financial situation due to his stubborn unwillingness to sacrifice the freedom of spirit and creativity in favor of the changing tastes of the burghers, exacerbated and laid bare the gradually ripening conflict between the artist and society.

Information about the private life of Rembrandt in the 1640s. little has been preserved in the documents. Of the disciples of this period, only Nicholas Mas from Dordrecht is known. Apparently, the artist continued to live in grand style, as before. The family of the late Saskia expressed concern about how he disposed of her dowry. Titus' nanny, Gertje Dirks, sued him for breaking his promise to marry; in order to settle this incident, the artist had to fork out.

In the late 1640s, Rembrandt became friends with his young servant Hendrikje Stoffels, whose image flashes in many portrait works of this period: (Flora (1654), Bathing Woman (1654), Hendrikje at the Window (1655)). The parish council condemned Hendrickje for "sinful cohabitation" when, in 1654, her daughter Cornelia was born with the artist. During these years, Rembrandt moves away from topics that have a grandiose national or universal sound.

The artist worked for a long time on engraved portraits of burgomaster Jan Six (1647) and other influential burghers. All the techniques and techniques of engraving known to him were used in the manufacture of the carefully crafted etching "Christ Healing the Sick", better known as the "Leaf of a Hundred Guilders", - it was for such a huge price for the 17th century that it was once sold. Over this etching, which strikes with the subtlety of the play of light and shade, he worked for seven years, from 1643 to 1649.

In 1653, experiencing financial difficulties, the artist transferred almost all his property to his son Titus, after which he declared bankruptcy in 1656. After the sale in 1657-58. house and property (an interesting catalog of the Rembrandt art collection has been preserved), the artist moved to the outskirts of Amsterdam, to the Jewish quarter, where he spent the rest of his life.

The death of Titus in 1668 was one of the last strokes of fate for the artist; he himself was gone a year later.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn died in October 1669. He was 63 years old. He was old, sick and poor. The notary did not have to spend much time compiling an inventory of the artist's property. The inventory was brief: “three worn jerseys, eight handkerchiefs, ten berets, painting supplies, one Bible.”

Paintings

Return of the prodigal son

The famous painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son", one of the last works of Rembrandt. It was written in the year of his death, and became the pinnacle of his talent.

This is the largest painting by Rembrandt on a religious theme. Painting by Rembrandt on the plot of the New Testament parable of the prodigal son.

The parable of the prodigal son is found in the Gospel of Luke. She tells about a young man who left his father's house and squandered his inheritance. In idleness, debauchery and drunkenness, he spent his days until he ended up in a barnyard, where he ate from the same trough with pigs. Being in a desperate situation and complete poverty, the young man returns to his father, ready to become his last slave. But instead of contempt, he finds a royal reception, instead of anger - all-forgiving, deep and tender fatherly love.

1669. Rembrandt plays out a human drama in front of the viewer. Paints lie on the canvas in thick strokes. They are dark. The artist does not care about minor characters, even if there are many of them. Attention is again riveted to the father and son. The old father, hunched over with grief, is facing the viewer. In this face there is pain, and eyes tired from crying out tears, and the happiness of a long-awaited meeting. The son has his back turned to us. He buried himself like a child in his father's royal attire. We do not know what his face expresses. But the cracked heels, the bare skull of the tramp, the poor attire say enough. Like the hands of the father, squeezing the shoulders of the young man. Through the calmness of these hands, forgiving and supporting, Rembrandt for the last time tells the world a universal parable about wealth, passions and vices, repentance and forgiveness. “... I will get up, go to my father and say to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; accept me as one of your hired hands. He got up and went to his father. And while he was still far away, his father saw him and had compassion; and, running, fell on his neck and kissed him.

In addition to the father and son, 4 more characters are depicted in the picture. These are dark silhouettes that are hardly distinguishable against a dark background, but who they are remains a mystery. Some called them "brothers and sisters" of the protagonist. It is characteristic that Rembrandt avoids conflict: the parable speaks of the jealousy of an obedient son, and the harmony of the picture is not broken in any way.

Van Gogh very accurately said about Rembrandt: “You have to die several times in order to draw like that ... Rembrandt penetrates the mystery so deeply that he speaks about objects for which there are no words in any language. That's why Rembrandt is called: the magician. And this is not a simple craft.”

The night Watch

The name by which Rembrandt's group portrait "Speech of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenbürg", written in 1642, is traditionally known.

The canvas of the Dutch master is fraught with many "surprises". Let's start with the fact that the name of the picture familiar to us does not correspond to reality: the patrol depicted on it is in fact not at all night, but the most that neither is daytime. It’s just that Rembrandt’s work was varnished several times, because of which it darkened greatly. In addition, for almost 100 years (from the beginning of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century), the canvas adorned one of the halls of the Amsterdam City Hall, where it hung right in front of the fireplace, covered with soot year after year. It is not surprising that by the beginning of the 19th century, the name “Night Watch” had firmly established itself behind the painting: by this time, the history of its creation was thoroughly forgotten, and everyone was sure that the master depicted the dark time of the day. Only in 1947, during the restoration at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where the painting is to this day, it turned out that its coloring was incomparably lighter than was commonly believed. Moreover, the short shadows cast by the characters indicate that the action takes place between noon and two o'clock in the afternoon. However, the restorers did not remove all layers of dark lacquer, fearing to damage the paint, so even now the Night Watch is rather twilight.

The real name of the canvas is "Speech by the rifle company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Wilhem van Reitenburg." This is a group portrait of musketeers-militias of one of the districts of Amsterdam. From 1618 to 1648, the Thirty Years' War was going on in Europe, and the inhabitants of the Dutch cities took up arms in order to defend their homes. Rembrandt's creation, along with portraits of other rifle companies, was supposed to decorate the main hall in Kloveniersdolen, the headquarters of the city's riflemen. But the customers were disappointed: Rembrandt did not get a monumental formal portrait, but a genre painting in which they could hardly find their own faces, often half-covered by other characters. Still would! After all, the artist, in addition to 18 customers (each of whom laid out about 100 gold guilders for his portrait - a very impressive amount at that time), squeezed another 16 people onto the canvas! Who they are is unknown.

Museum – Amsterdam History Museum?

three crosses

One of Rembrandt's most famous etchings, it has five states. Signed and dated only the third, therefore, the rest Rembrandt considered intermediate. The fifth condition is very rare, only five specimens are known.

The etching depicts the dramatic moment of the death of Christ on the Calvary cross, described in the gospels. In this etching, Rembrandt, on an unprecedented scale, used the technique of a cutter and a “dry needle”, which increased the contrast of the image.

On December 2, 2008, this etching (state IV) was sold at Christie's for £421,250.

Descent from the Cross

In 1814, Alexander I purchased the Malmaison Gallery from Empress Josephine. Some of the paintings came from the famous Kassel Gallery, including Descent from the Cross. Previously, these canvases were the property of Mrs. de Ruwer in Delft and, together with other paintings from her collection, were bought by the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Ludwig VII. In 1806, his gallery was taken over by Napoleon and presented to Josephine.

The successor of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Ludwig VII, a former ally of Alexander I, in 1815 presented the emperor with a demand for the return of the paintings seized by Napoleon. This demand was resolutely rejected by Alexander I, who paid money for the paintings and in every possible way showed attention to Josephine and her daughter Hortense. In 1829 Hortense, who at that time bore the title of Duchess of Saint-Leu, bought thirty paintings from the Malmaison Gallery.
The theme "Descent from the Cross" had a great iconographic tradition in European art. Her highest achievement was the altar painting by Rubens in the Antwerp Cathedral, widely known from the engraving by Worsterman.

The creative thought of Rembrandt wanders somewhere near this tradition, using it and at the same time constantly choosing other paths. Unusual for the previous development of European art, they are highly characteristic of Rembrandt's personal creative manner, and it is not for nothing that the Descent from the Cross looks so much like The Unbelief of the Apostle Thomas.
Rubens depicted the sublime grief of a group of majestic and beautiful people about a majestic and beautiful hero; Rembrandt restless mass night scene. Numerous figures either retreat into darkness or fall into a beam of light, and it seems that the crowd is moving, living, grieving for the crucified and pitying his mother. There is nothing ideal in the appearance of people, many of them are rude, ugly. Their feelings are very strong, but these are the feelings of ordinary people, not enlightened by that sublime catharsis that is in Rubens' painting.

The dead Christ is a man like them; it is because of the strength of their grief that his suffering and death take on special significance. The key to the content of the picture is, perhaps, not so much Christ, but the person supporting him and pressing his cheek against him.
From an artistic point of view, the fragmented, restless composition is inferior to the famous painting by Rubens, and some of the works of Rembrandt himself, performed in the same years. For example, the “Unbelief of the Apostle Thomas”, less significant in its content, seems outwardly more harmonious and holistic. However, in The Descent from the Cross, Rembrandt's inherent understanding of the biblical gospel theme comes out more clearly.

The work of the young Rembrandt differs from its prototype in the most basic features. First of all, it was not created either formally or in essence as a prayer altar image. Its cabinet size is addressed not to the perception of the crowd, but to the individual experience. This appeal to the feelings and consciousness of one person, the establishment of close spiritual contact with the viewer forced the artist to create a completely new system of artistic means and techniques. Rembrandt saw the scene of the gospel legend as a tragic real event, essentially depriving it of mystical and heroic pathos.

Striving for the utmost sincerity and truthfulness of the image, Rembrandt showed near the cross a close crowd of people, shocked by grief, seeking family unity with each other in the face of terrible death. The brown-olive tonal coloring united the entire composition, and the light flux highlighted its main semantic center dramatically sharply. The greatest depth of suffering is embodied in the image of the Mother of God who fell unconscious with her thin, emaciated face of a worker. The second group of mourners is located at the left end of the spatial diagonal - women reverently lay a shroud, fulfilling their direct duty in relation to the deceased. The drooping body of Christ supported by the old man - the embodiment of tortured human flesh - evokes, first of all, a feeling of deep compassion.

Jewish bride

One of Rembrandt's last and most enigmatic paintings. The name was given to her in 1825 by the Amsterdam collector Van der Hop. He mistakenly believed that it depicted a father giving his Jewish daughter a necklace for her wedding. Perhaps this is a custom portrait, but the clothes of the characters are clearly similar to the old, biblical ones, therefore Artaxerxes and Esther, Jacob and Rachel, Abram and Sarah, Boaz and Ruth were suggested as the name.

Saskia as Flora

Painting by Rembrandt, painted in 1634, which probably depicts the artist's wife Saskia van Uylenbuch in the form of the ancient Italian goddess of flowers, flowering, spring and field fruits Flora.

In 1633, Saskia van Uylenbürch became the bride of Rembrandt van Rijn. A charming portrait of young Saskia dressed as Flora is a mute but eloquent witness to this “season of spring and love” of the brilliant painter.

The thoughtful, but undoubtedly happy face of the girl is quite consistent with the feelings of the bride. She is no longer a frisky child, carelessly looking at God's world. She has a serious task ahead of her: she has chosen a new path, and she has to change her mind and re-feel many, many things before she enters adulthood. The headdress and wand entwined with flowers certainly point to Flora, the ancient Roman goddess of spring. The outfit of the goddess is written with amazing skill, but the true greatness of Rembrandt's talent is manifested in the expression of tenderness that the artist gave to her face.

The beloved wife brought the light of happiness and heartfelt contentment into the lonely dwelling of the modest artist. Rembrandt loved to dress Saskia in velvet, silk and brocade, according to the custom of that time, he showered them with diamonds and pearls, watching with love how her lovely, young face wins from a brilliant outfit.

Museum - State Hermitage

Style

Deeply humanistic in its essence and perfect in its unique artistic form, Rembrandt's work has become one of the pinnacles of the development of human civilization. Diverse in genre and subject matter, Rembrandt's works are imbued with the ideas of morality, spiritual beauty and dignity of an ordinary person, understanding of the incomprehensible complexity of his inner world, the versatility of his intellectual wealth, the depth of his spiritual experiences. Hidden in themselves many unsolved mysteries, paintings, drawings and etchings of this remarkable artist captivate with insightful psychological characteristics of the characters, philosophical acceptance of reality, convincing justification of unexpected artistic decisions. His interpretation of plots from the Bible, ancient myths, ancient legends and the past of his native country as really meaningful events in the history of man and society, deeply felt life collisions of specific people opened the way for a free and ambiguous interpretation of traditional images and themes.

Love Rembrandt

The famous muse of Rembrandt Saskia was the youngest daughter of the burgomaster of the city of Leeuwarden. This white-skinned red-haired beauty grew up in a large and very wealthy family. When the girl was 12 years old, the mother of the family died. But the girl still did not know anything to refuse, and when the time came, she became a very enviable bride.

A landmark meeting between the artist and the young lady took place in the house of the girl's cousin, the artist Hendrick van Uylenburg, who was also an antiques dealer. Rembrandt is literally smitten with a girl: luminous delicate skin, golden hair ... Add to this the ability to conduct a casual conversation. Jokingly, she invited a famous painter to paint her portrait. And that's all it needs: Saskia is an ideal model for Rembrandt's subjects in dark and muted tones.

Rembrandt begins to paint a portrait. He meets with Saskia not only at the sessions. Changing his principle, he tries to go on pleasure walks and parties. When the work on the portrait was completed and frequent meetings ceased, Rembrandt understands: this is the one he wants to marry. In 1633, Saskia van Uylenburg became the artist's bride, and on July 22, 1634, the long-awaited wedding took place.

Marriage with Saskia opens the way for the artist to high society. The burgomaster's father left the beloved a colossal inheritance: 40,000 florins. Even on a small part of this amount it was possible to live comfortably for many, many years.

Happy and in love, the spouses began to equip a common house. Soon it began to resemble a museum. The walls were decorated with engravings by Michelangelo and paintings by Raphael. Saskia agreed to everything, she loved her husband very much. And he, in turn, showered her with jewels, paid for the most exquisite toilets. And, of course, he tried to capture his favorite image. Rembrandt, one might say, became a chronicler of his family life. In the early days of the couple's honeymoon, the famous "Self-portrait with Saskia on her knees" was painted.

In 1635, the first son was born in the family, but he did not live long, and this was a terrible blow for the young mother.

For a long time she did not want to part with the body of her son, drove everyone away from her, not letting go of the dead child. The unfortunate mother walked with him around the house, lulling him to sleep and calling him all the tender names that she and her husband used to call Rembrantus in the first happy days.

Rembrandt was aware that, with the exception of hours spent at the easel, he could only live near Saskia. Only with her does he feel like a man: love is the source of life, and he loves only Saskia, and no one else.

After the death of Rembrantus, Saskia lost two more children at birth. Only the fourth child, Titus, who was born in 1641, was able to survive the difficult years of infancy. The boy was named after the late Tizia, Saskia's sister.

However, constant childbirth had a detrimental effect on Saskia's health. The appearance of purely landscape images by the artist in the late 1630s is sometimes explained by the fact that at that time, due to the illness of his wife, Rembrandt spent a lot of time with her outside the city. In the 1640s, the artist writes relatively few portraits.

Saskia van Uylenburg died in 1642. She was only thirty years old. In the coffin, she looked like a living ...

At this time, Rembrandt was working on the famous painting "Night Watch".

Rembrandt House Museum

Art Museum on the Jodenbreestraat in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam. The museum opened in 1911 in a house that Rembrandt bought at the height of his fame in 1639 and lived in until his bankruptcy in 1656.

For almost 20 years of life (from 1639 to 1658) on Jodenbrestraat Street, Rembrandt managed to create many beautiful works, become famous, collect a unique collection of paintings and rarities from around the world, acquire students, squander the fortune of his first wife, lose his main customers, make huge debts and put the house under the hammer.

Rembrandt also had to sell off much of his lavish collection of paintings and antiques, including works by great European artists, Roman busts of emperors, and even Japanese battle armor, and move into a more modest home. Having survived both wives and even his own son, Rembrandt died in poverty and loneliness.

Two and a half centuries later, in 1911, on the orders of Queen Wilhelmina, the house was turned into a museum, which, unlike, for example, the Van Gogh Museum, is, first of all, not an art gallery, but the restored apartments of the great artist: a huge kitchen on on the first floor, the reception room, the master bedroom and the guest bedroom are on the second floor, the largest room of the mansion - the studio - on the third, and in the attic - the workshops of his students.

It was possible to restore the interior with the help of an inventory of property compiled by a notary when selling all the artist's property at auction, and drawings by the artist himself, on which he displayed his dwelling.

Here you can see his personal belongings, furniture of the 17th century and other interesting exhibits such as a beautiful etching machine or overseas rarities.

The museum exhibits almost all of the engravings of the great Rembrandt - 250 out of 280, magnificent self-portraits of the artist, drawings depicting his parents, wife and son Titus, wonderful views of Amsterdam and its environs.

Even the museum toilet requires special attention: there you can see drawings by Rembrandt on the corresponding theme: a woman crouching in the bushes and a man standing in a pose characteristic of this institution.

Rembrandt - everything you need to know about the famous Dutch artist updated: November 13, 2017 by: website