Artbooks about Rembrandt

Artbooks Rembrandt

Rembrandt van Rijn is one of the most famous Dutch masters of the 17th century. The style period in which Rembrandt produced his paintings, drawings and etchings is known as the Baroque. Other important contemporaries from the ‘Netherlands’ during this period include Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, Haarlem artist Frans Hals and Delft painter Johannes Vermeer.

By now dated publications on Rembrandt invariably told the story that Rembrandt had fallen on low, as he had stopped receiving commissions after painting The Night Watch. Fortunately, historiography on art and artists is becoming increasingly accurate and nuanced. It is safe to say that Rembrandt always fared well. Although financially he did indeed go through a difficult time, during which he had to sell his house and (art) collections.

The exciting story of his exceptional mastery and drive for innovation, his bankruptcy and his loved ones, can be read in the many art books, which have been published about Rembrandt. This page features easy-to-read basic books and more in-depth studies on Rembrandt, written from different perspectives.

Rembrandt, Judas brings back the pieces of silver, 1629,
oil on panel, 79 × 102,3 cm, Lythe, North Yorkshire, Mulgrave Castle

In 1606 Rembrandt was born in Leiden. He is the son of Cornelia and Harmen Gerritsz van Rijn. His father was a successful malt miller who supplied the local beer industry with raw material. In a riverside cottage next to the windmill, Rembrandt grew up.
At 15, Rembrandt already knew he wanted to become a painter. He was apprenticed to the Leiden history painter Jacob Isaacszoon van Swanenburgh (1571-1638). The Netherlands was in good spirits at the time. It was at the dawn of the seventeenth century, also known as the Golden Age because of its tremendous prosperity. Together with his friend, the artist Jan Lievens (1607-1674), Rembrandt started a painting studio in Leiden. Soon they got some success, selling portraits and other paintings. Rembrandts history painting from this period Judas Returning the Thirty Silver Pieces (1629) got the attention from Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687). He was a respected poet, a diplomat, scholar, composer, architect and the secretary to the prince of Orange. He was one of the key figures in the background, early in their careers, promoting both Rembrandt and Lievens and their work whenever possible
In 1631, Rembrandt moves to Amsterdam, the prosperous city where trade in wood and grain with ports on the Baltic Sea flourishes. There he was for a short period apprentice in the studio from the respected painter Pieter Lastman (1583-1633). Rembrandt's style is influenced by the Italian artist Caravaggio, of whom Lastman was a great admirer. It is known that in his early days Rembrandt was also influenced by the Utrecht Caravaggists, who had personally travelled to Italy to see for themselves the distinctive fierce light-dark contrast in the paintings by Caravaggio. Inspired by Caravaggism, Rembrandt plays with an intensified contrast between light and dark, sometimes referred to as chiaroscuro, but he follows his own inimitable path in this matter.

An introduction to Rembrandt

by Art Historian Sander Kletter

The beginning of his career

Celebrated portraitist and history painter

In Amsterdam, Rembrandt started to compete with the technically proficient portraitists of the time such as Thomas de Keyser (c. 1596-1667) and Nicolaes Elias (1588-1653/1656). After delivering his Portrait of Nicolaes Ruts (1631) and The anatomy lesson by Dr Nicolaes Tulp (1632, see image above) the public who could afford a painted portrait was convinced that Rembrandt could do what the others could, and maybe even better!
Rembrandt worked for a time with art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh, marrying his niece Saskia van Uylenburgh in 1633. She brought with her a substantial dowry. With Saskia, he had four children, three of whom died within a very short time. Despite these personal setbacks, Rembrandt prospered. Rembrandt became a very popular portrait painter in Amsterdam. Also of group portraits. Besides painting portraits, Rembrandt found much inspiration in Biblical tales and mythological stories. He drew his subjects from both the Old and New Testaments. Saskia was the model for many of those paintings.
Rembrandt gradually built up a fortune. He knew city officials such as Mayor Jan Six personally and built, as we say now, a convenient network. He sold etchings in editions, which attracted great interest. He also got more and more pupils, who paid him an annual fee for his guidance and studio space. Some of the best-known pupils are Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680), Carel Fabritius (1622-1654), Govaert Flinck (1615-1660) and Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678). For executed commissions such as The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp and The Night Watch, he was also excellently paid. The Night Watch is the group portrait of the members of a military civilian company. See the image below.

Rembrandt, The anatomy lesson by Dr Nicolaes Tulp, 1632,
oils on canvas, 169.5 x 216.5 cm, Mauritshuis, The Hague

The original title of the giant painting The Night Watch is The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburgh prepares to march out. It is a group portrait of the Amsterdam militia, led by captain Frans Banninck Cocq and lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch. It is without doubt Rembrandt's most famous painting worldwide.
In Rembrandt's time, the genre of a group portrait was not exceptional. In Amsterdam, the schuttersstuk, as such a portrait of the militia is called, formed a genre of its own.
What is special about this monumental painting is the original approach to the group portrait. In fact, not all the persons are equally clearly recognisable in it. In fact, the face of one of the figures at the back right is almost completely hidden from view by the outstretched arm of another figure passing in front of his face. Therefore, the painting's depiction may not be the most desirable one for all those portrayed. Nevertheless, the painting was appreciated by its patrons and with them by many in its time!
Group portraits by fellow painters of the same period have a more static character. All those portrayed are depicted with equal emphasis and detail in those portraits. In such portraits, the members of the militia usually stand rather stiffly side by side. Such paintings, however cleverly painted at times, lack the lifelike dynamism that characterises The Night Watch.

Tragically, Saskia died the same year Rembrandt completed his masterpiece, nine months after giving birth to Titus, the only one of their children who did survive.

Rembrandt's ultimate masterpiece

Rembrandt, The Night Watch, 1642,
oils on canvas, 379,5 × 453,5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Period of stylistic changes

After completing The Night Watch, Rembrandt set in motion a change in style. The extravagant baroque character of a painting like The Blinding of Samson from 1636, with which Rembrandt seemed to have wanted to compete with his famous older, Flemish contemporary Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), gradually gives way to a more subdued ‘classicist’ style. Dynamic complex baroque compositions give way to simple central compositions. His paintings exude tranquillity and simplicity. Rembrandt later also starts experimenting with the manner of painting. The fine brushwork, in which the trace of brushes is not traceable in the final result, will eventually give way to thickly applied paint. Seen up close, the paint surface may look irreverently sloppily applied, but looking from further away, Rembrandt still appears to be able to create the illusion of detail. His exceptional talent and experience make him a master wizard.
A fine example of the change in style described is the Portrait of Nicolaes Bruyningh (1652), which he made 10 years after completing The Night Watch. It has been said of the portraits he painted at this stage of his career that Rembrandt now succeeded in capturing not only a person's exterior, but also his interior - some even claim his soul!

Rembrandt, The Blinding of Samson, 1636,
oils on canvas, 206 x 276 cm, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Two rescuing angels: Hendrickje and Titus

In 1654, Rembrandt had a daughter with Hendrickje Stoffels (1626-1663), his housekeeper and new lover, with whom he lived in the same house were he lived with Saskia. Like her Hendrickje was the model for many of Rembrandt's paintings and drawings. At the time, he was deeply in debt. The money problems were the result of his unrestrained collecting frenzy and the beautiful but incompletely paid-off house he had lived in on St Anthoniebreestraat since 1639. Nowadays it hosts Museum Het Rembrandthuis. In 1656, Rembrandt applied for a ‘cessio bonorum’ from the City Council of Amsterdam because of his debts. It is an official document by which he renounces all his possessions to his creditors. This route was chosen because it was less humiliating than a public declaration of bankruptcy.

So of his art collection, Rembrandt unfortunately had to renounce it entirely. This included extremely expensive prints by the Renaissance artist he admired, Lucas van Leyden. He owned paintings by contemporaries such as Adriaen Brouwer, Jan Porcellis and Hercules Segers. He also had some canvases by his friend Jan Lievens and his teacher Pieter Lastman. Then there were paintings attributed to Italian Renaissance artists such as Jacopo Bassano, Giorgione and Raphael. He also had a huge print collection after paintings by celebrities such as Holbein, Michelangelo, Rubens and Leonardo da Vinci. Besides art, he had collected numerous precious objects and curiosities, including stabbing weapons, helmets, antique guns and a footbow, Venetian glass, plaster casts of portrait busts of Roman emperors and other replicas of statues, fans, wind instruments, a stuffed bird of paradise and dozens of other (sea) animals, two globes, minerals, garments, fine fabrics and books.

A clever business arrangement is set up. From then on, son Titus and beloved Hendrickje run Rembrandt's finances. He receives a monthly allowance from them, and they make sure he has materials so he can paint. His paintings become the property of their art gallery, so former creditors cannot claim them. It saves the artist from more financial calamity in the last phase of his life.

Rembrandt, The Jewish Bride, about 1662,
oils on canvas, 121,5 x 166,5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Rembrandt, Portrait of Nicolaes Bruyningh, 1652,
oils on canvas, 108 x 92 cm, Staatliche Museen, Kassel

After settling with his creditors and moving to a more modest address elsewhere in Amsterdam's city centre, Rembrandt managed to fully recover artistically. His reputation had suffered from the debt affair, of course, and he had lost some friends and patrons, but he gained new ones in return and retained some loyal followers anyway. He had experienced something similar when he had started to change his painting style. In the relative anonymity of his new existence, he still regularly painted commissioned portraits in the last decade of his life and managed to create new masterpieces until his death in 1669. He had now mastered and perfected the change in style, which he had initiated after The Night Watch, to perfection. One of the masterpieces from his last heyday is The Jewish Bride (1662, pictured above), which, along with The Night Watch, is among the crowd-pleasers at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In The Jewish Bride it is particularly fascinating to see that although the precious fabrics of the bride and groom's clothes are ‘bricked up’ with thickly applied layers of paint, Rembrandt still managed to convincingly suggest the sophistication of the precious fabric.

Rembrandt's legacy is impressive. About three hundred paintings, three hundred different etchings, and two thousand drawings are still attributed to him with certainty. Uniquely, he made more then 100 self-portraits in total, during the stages of his life. Not many other artists have done that before or after him. Pictured below is the intriguing Self-Portrait with Two Circles (1665-1669), located in London. Nobody knows exactly what the two circles stand for, although there are enough speculations of course. Besides portraits of individuals, couples and groups, he preferred to paint mythological, religious and historical scenes, less well known is that he also painted landscapes.

Those who have become enthusiastic after reading this introduction to Rembrandt and want to see his work in real life will need to prepare for a real world trip, as Rembrandt's masterpieces are in all the leading world museums. Besides the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, these include the Louvre in Paris, the Uffizi in Florence, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Sander Kletter, 1 maart 2025

A final flourish

Rembrandt, Self-portrait with two circles, 1665-1669,
oils on canvas, 114,3 x 94 cm, Kenwood House, Hampstead, London