Rembrandt Van Rijn | Daily Art Fixx - Art Blog: Modern Art, Art History, Painting, Illustration, Photography, Sculpture

Rembrandt van Rijn: 1606-1669

The one thing I have discovered while researching Rembrandt, is that even among the credible sources, facts and dates about the artist’s life contradict each other. This is due to the fact that much of the existing information about Rembrandt originates from a 350 word essay published in 1641 by Jan Orlers’ guidebook to Leiden. Some research supports Orlers’ work while others contradict it. No personal letters remain and from the few professional ones, our knowledge of Rembrandt, one of the world’s most famous artists, remains incomplete. So, I include in this summary, details that seem to be consistent across texts.

Son of a prosperous miller, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born in Leiden, Netherlands on July 15, 1606. He attended Leiden Latin School from 1615-19 and was enrolled at Leiden University in 1620. He then left the University to study with the Leiden artist Jacob van Swanenburgh.

In 1624 Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam to apprentice with the leading history painter in the Netherlands, Pieter Lastman, whose colourful style and narrative approach would be an influence for Rembrandt throughout his life. Rembrandt returned to Leiden six months later and established his own studio.

Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam permanently in 1631 and partnered with art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh to capitalize on the growing market for history paintings and portraits. Rembrandt was interested in stories from the Old and New Testaments and preferred painting realistic emotion and narrative detail. He quickly became one of the most sought after portrait painters (individual and group) in the Netherlands, introducing more animation, expression and dramatic contrasts of light and dark. During this time, many students came to the van Uylenburgh Academy to study Rembrandt’s style of painting.

In 1634, Rembrandt married van Uylenburgh’s niece, Saskia. At the height of his career in 1639 he bought a large house on the Sint-Anthonisbreestraat that he borrowed heavily to acquire. The artist also liked to spend money, purchasing art and other objects that were beyond his means, a habit that would eventually catch up with him.

In 1642, Saskia died after the birth and death of three children, leaving Rembrandt to care for their son Titus. Following the complicated end to his common-law relationship with Titus’s nurse, Geertje Dircks, Rembrant met Hendrickje Stoffels who would be his lifelong companion and with whom he had his daughter, Cornelia.

By the late 1640s, Rembrandt was receiving fewer portrait commissions and his failed investments resulted in financial strain for the artist. Rembrandt remained well known, but his vigorous, broad brushwork and glowing palette differed from the prevailing taste in the Netherlands for a smooth, elegant style of painting.

This was also a period filled with personal difficulties, including his declaration of insolvency in 1656 and the sale of his house and collections in 1657 and 1658. Rembrandt moved to a smaller house on the Rozengracht in the Jordaan area of Amsterdam, where he continued fulfilling commissions for portraits and other works.

Beyond painting, Rembrandt created about 300 etchings and drypoints. His work as a printmaker ran alongside his career as a painter. He was a great innovator in this medium, often using traditional materials in unconventional ways. His impact on printmaking is still reflected in etchings produced today.

Rembrandt outlived both Hendrickje, who died in 1663, and Titus, who died in 1668. Rembrandt died on October 4, 1669. With no money for a tombstone, he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Westerkerk, in Amsterdam.

Sources: Getty Museum, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Met Museum, Met Museum(2),Wikipedia, The Teaching Company (DVD) Images from Artchive

Art-e-Facts: 5 Random Art Facts XIV

1. Giclée is the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. The word “giclée” is derived from the French language word “le gicleur” meaning “nozzle”, or more specifically “gicler” meaning “to squirt, spurt, or spray”. It was coined in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne to represent any inkjet-based digital print used as fine art. The name was originally applied to fine art prints created on Iris printers in a process invented in the early 1990s but has since come to mean any high quality ink-jet print and is often used in galleries and print shops to denote such prints.

2. Found Art is art created from the undisguised, but often modified, use of objects that are not normally considered art. Marcel Duchamp coined the term “readymade” to describe his found art in 1915. Since then, found object art has been prevalent in the Dada, Surrealist, and Pop Art movements to name a few. The meaning of found art has expanded over time and now, numerous categories have been defined including assemblage, appropriation, collage, and even Internet based found images that are reworked with computer graphic tools to form new works of art.

3. Six publishers rejected Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” before she decided to publish her own edition of the story. Having seen the edition, publisher Frederick Warne decided to publish Peter Rabbit, and within a year had already had to produce six editions to meet demand. During her career, Potter wrote and illustrated a total of 28 books, including the 23 Tales, the ‘little books’ that have been translated into more than 35 languages and sold over 100 million copies. Her stories have been retold in numerous formats including a ballet, films, and in animation.

4. Throughout his life, Rembrandt van Rijn was plagued with money problems. At the height of his career in 1639 he bought a large house on the Sint-Anthonisbreestraat that he borrowed heavily to acquire. The artist also liked to spend money, purchasing art and other objects that were beyond his means, a habit that would eventually catch up with him. In 1656, the artist declared bankruptcy and had to sell his house and collections in 1657 – 1658. Upon his death in 1669, there was no money for a tombstone. Rembrandt was buried in an unmarked grave in the Westerkerk, in Amsterdam.

5. Encaustic Painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface and metal tools and special brushes are used to shape the paint before it cools. Today, tools such as heat lamps, heat guns, and other methods of applying heat allow artists to extend the amount of time they have to work with the material. This technique was notably used in the Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt around 100-300 AD, in the Blachernitissa and other early icons, as well as in many works of 20th-century American artists, including Jasper Johns.