Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)—
Early Works
Rembrandt van Rijn is the greatest of all Dutch painters. Whereas
most painters specialized in one field—portraits, landscapes, still
lifes—Rembrandt excelled in them all.
Rembrandt—
Self-Portrait at an Early Age
Here we see the young, small-town boy about to launch himself
into whatever life has to offer. Rembrandt was a precocious kid.
His father, a miller, insisted that he become a
lawyer. His mother hoped he'd be a preacher
(look for a portrait of her reading the Bible,
nearby). Rembrandt combined the secular
and religious worlds by becoming an artist,
someone who can hint at the spiritual by
showing us the beauty of the created world.
He moved to Amsterdam and entered
the highly competitive art world. Amsterdam
was a booming town and, like today, a hip
and cosmopolitan city. Rembrandt portrays
himself at age 22 as being divided—half in
light, half hidden by hair and shadows—open-eyed, but wary of
an uncertain future. As we'll see, Rembrandt's paintings are often
light-and-dark, both in color and in subject, exploring the “darker”
side of human experience.
Rembrandt—
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of
Jerusalem
(1630)
The Babylonians have sacked and burned Jerusalem, but
Rembrandt leaves the pyrotechnics (in the murky background at
left) to Spielberg and the big screen. Instead, he tells the story of
Israel's destruction in the face of the prophet who predicted the
disaster. Jeremiah slumps in defeat, deep in thought, confused and
despondent, trying to understand why this evil had to happen.
Rembrandt turns his floodlight of truth on the prophet's deeply
lined forehead.
Rembrandt wasn't satisfied to crank
out portraits of fat merchants in frilly
bibs, no matter what they paid him. He
wanted to experiment, trying new tech-
niques and more probing subjects. Many
of his paintings weren't commissioned
and were never even intended for sale.
His subjects could be brooding and mel-
ancholy, a bit dark for the public's taste.
So was his technique.
