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See also:REMBRANDT (1606-1669)
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See also:REMBRANDT HARMENS See also:VAN RIJN, Dutch painter, was See also:born in See also:Leiden on the 15th of See also:July 1606
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It is only within the past fifty years that we have cometo know anything of his real See also:history
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A See also:tissue of fables formerly represented him as ignorant, boorish and avaricious
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These See also:fictions, resting on the loose assertions of See also:Houbraken (De Groote Schouburgh, 1718), have been cleared away by the untiring researches of Scheltema and other Dutchmen, notably by C
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See also:Vosmaer, whose elaborate See also:work (Rembrandt, sa See also:vie et ses oeuvres, 1868, and ed., 1877) is the basis of our knowledge of the See also:man and of the See also:chronological development of the artist.' Rembrandt's high position in See also:European See also:art rests on the originality of his mind, the See also:power of his See also:imagination, his profound sympathy with his subjects, the boldness of his See also:system of See also:light and shade, the thoroughness of his modelling, his subtle See also:colour, and above all on his intense humanity
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He was See also:great in conception and in See also:execution, a poet as well as a painter, an idealist and also a realist; and this rare See also:union is the See also:secret of his power
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From his dramatic See also:action and mastery of expression Rembrandt has been well called " the See also:Shakespeare of See also: See also:Left to himself, therefore, the artist painted the See also:life of the See also:people among whom he lived and the subjects which interested them . It was thus a living history that he painted—scenes from the everyday life and amusements of the people, as well as the civic rulers, the " regents " or See also:governors of the hospitals and the heads of the guilds, and the civic See also:guards who defended their towns . So also with religious pictures . The dogmas and legends of the Church of See also:Rome were no longer of See also:interest to such a nation; but the See also:Bible was read and studied with avidity, and from its See also:page the artist See also:drew directly the scenes of the See also:simple narrative . Perhaps the earliest trace of this new aspect of Bible See also:story is to be found in the pictures painted in Rome about the beginning of the 17th century by See also:Adam Elsheimer of See also:Frankfort, who had undoubtedly a great See also:influence on the Dutch painters studying in See also:Italy . These in their turn carried back to Holland the simplicity and the picturesque effect which they found in Elsheimer's work . Among these, the precursors of Rembrandt, may be mentioned Moeyaert, Ravesteyn, Lastman, Pinas, See also:Honthorst and Bramer . Influenced doubtless by these painters, Rembrandt determined to work out his own ideas of art on Dutch See also:soil, resisting apparently every inducement to visit Italy . Though an admirer of the great See also:Italian masters, he yet maintained his own individuality . Rembrandt was born at No . 3 Weddesteg, on the rampart at Leiden overlooking the See also:Rhine . He was the See also:fourth son of Gerrit Harmens van Rijn, a well-to-do See also:miller . As the older boys had been sent to See also:trade, his parents resolved that he should enter a learned profession . With this view he was sent to the High School at Leiden; but the boy soon manifested his dislike of the prospect, and determined to be a painter . Accordingly he was placed for three years under Swanenburch, a painter of no great merit, who enjoyed some reputation from his having studied in Italy . His next See also:master was Lastman of See also:Amsterdam, a painter of very considerable power . In Lastman's See also:works we can trace the germs of the colour and sentiment of his greater See also:pupil, though his See also:direct influence cannot have been great, as it is said by Orlers that Rembrandt remained with him only six months, after which time he returned to Leiden, about 1623 . During the See also:early years of his life at Leiden Rembrandt seems to have devoted himself entirely to studies, See also:painting and See also:etching the people around him, the beggars and cripples, every picturesque See also:face and See also:form he could get hold of . Life, See also:character, Vosmaer's first See also:volume, on the precursors and See also:apprenticeship of Rembrandt, was published in 1863 . New light has since been thrown on important points by Dr See also:Bode (Hollandische Malerei, 1883), De Roever, De Vries and others . and above all light were the aims of these studies . His See also:mother was a frequent See also:model, and we can trace in her features the strong likeness to her son, especially in the portraits of himself at an advanced See also:age . In the collection of Rembrandt's works at Amsterdam in 1898 were shown three portraits of his See also:father, who died about 1632; nine are catalogued altogether . The last portrait of his mother is that of the See also:Vienna Museum, painted the See also:year before her See also:death in 164o .
One of his sisters also frequently sat to him, and Bode suggests that she must have accompanied him to Amsterdam and kept See also:house for him till he married
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This conjecture rests on the number of portraits of the same See also:young woman painted in the early years of his stay in Amsterdam and before he met his See also:bride
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Then, again, in the many portraits of himself painted in his early life we can see with what zeal he set himself to master every form of expression, now See also:grave, now See also:gay—how thoroughly he learned to model the human face not from the outside but from the inner man
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Dr Bode gives fifty as the number of the portraits of himself (perhaps sixty is nearer the actual number), most of them painted in youth and in old age, the times when he had leisure for such work
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Rembrandt's earliest pictures were painted at Leiden, from 1627 to 1631
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Bode mentions about nine pictures as known to belong to these years, chiefly paintings of single figures, as " St See also:Paul in See also:Prison " and " St See also:Jerome "; but now and then compositions of several, as " See also:Samson in Prison " and " Presentation in the See also:Temple." The prevailing See also:tone of all these pictures is a greenish See also:grey, the effect being somewhat See also:cold and heavy
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The See also:gallery at See also:Cassel gives us a typical example of his studies of the heads of old men, See also:firm and hard in workmanship and full of detail, the effects of light and shade being carefully thought out
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His work was now attracting the See also:attention of lovers of art in the great See also:city of Amsterdam; and, urged by their calls, he removed about 1631 to live and See also:die there
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At one See also:bound he leaped into the position of the first portrait painter of the city, and received numerous commissions
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During the early years of his See also:residence there are at least See also:forty known portraits from his See also:hand, firm and solid in manner and staid in expression
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It has been remarked that the fantasy in which he indulged through life was reserved only for the portraits of himself and his immediate connexions
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The excellent painter See also:
Pupils also now flocked to his house in the Bloemgracht, among them See also:Gerard See also:Douw, who was nearly of his own age
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The first important work executed by Rembrandt in Amsterdam is " See also:Simeon in the Temple," of the See also:Hague Museum, a See also:fine early example of his treatment of light and shade and of his subtle colour
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The concentrated light falls on the See also:principal figure, while the background is full of See also:mystery
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The See also:surface is smooth and See also:enamel-like, and all the details are carefully wrought out, while the action of light on the See also:mantle of Simeon shows how soon he had See also:felt the magical effect of the See also:play of colour
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In the life-sized " See also:Lesson in See also:Anatomy " of 1632 we have the first of the great portrait subjects—Tulp the anatomist, the early friend of Rembrandt, discoursing to his seven associates, who are ranged with eager heads See also:round the foreshortened See also:body
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The subject had been treated in former years by the Mierevelts, A
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Pietersen and others, for the See also: Besides the Pellicorne See also:family portraits of 1632 now in the See also:Wallace Collection, we have the caligraphist Coppenol of the Cassel Gallery, interesting in the first See also:place as an early example of Rembrandt's method of giving permanent interest to a portrait by converting it into a picture . He invests it with a sense of life by a momentary expression as Coppenol raises his See also:head towards thespectator while he is mending a See also:quill . The same See also:motive is to be found in the " Shipbuilder," 1633 (See also:Buckingham See also:Palace), who looks up from his work with a sense of interruption at the approach of his wife . Coppenol was painted thrice and etched twice by the artist, the last of whose portrait etchings (1661) was the Coppenol of large See also:size . The two small pictures of " The Philosopher " of the Louvre date f m 1633, delicate in execution and full of mysterious effect . The year 1634 is especially remarkable as that of Rembrandt's See also:marriage with Saskia van Uylenborch, a beautiful, See also:fair-haired Frisian See also:maiden of See also:good connexions . Till her death in 1642 she was the centre of his life and art, and lives for us in many a See also:canvas as well as in her own portraits . On her the painter lavished his magical power, painting her as the See also:Queen See also:Artemisia or Bathsheba, and as the wife of Samson—always proud of her See also:long fair locks, and covering her with pearls and See also:gold as See also:precious in their play of colour as those of the Indies . A joyous pair we see them in the See also:Dresden Gallery, Saskia sitting on his See also:knee while he laughs gaily, or promenading together in a fine picture of 1636, or putting the last touches of See also:ornament to her toilette, for thus Bode interprets the so-called " Burgomaster Pancras and his Wife." These were his happy days when he painted himself in his exuberant fantasy, and adorned himself, at least in his portraits, in scarfs and feathers and gold chains . Saskia brought him a marriage portion of forty thousand guilders, a large sum for those times, and she brought him also a large circle of good See also:friends in Amsterdam . She See also:bore him four See also:children, Rumbartus and two girls, successively named See also:Cornelia after his beloved mother, all of whom died in See also:infancy, and See also:Titus, named after Titia a See also:sister of Saskia . We have several See also:noble portraits of Saskia, a good type of the beauty of Holland, all painted with the utmost love and care, at Cassel (1633), at Dresden (1641), and a See also:posthumous one (1643) at See also:Berlin .
But the greatest in workmanship and most pathetic in expression seems to us, though it is decried by Bode, that of See also:Antwerp (1641), in which it is impossible not to trace declining See also:health and to find a See also:melancholy presage of her death
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One of Rembrandt's greatest portraits of 1634 is the superb full-length of See also: In execution it is a great advance on former subject pictures; it is bolder in manner, and we have here signs of his approaching love of warmer tones of red and yellow . The story of Susannah also occupied him in these early years, and he returned to the subject in 1641 and 1653 . " The Bather " of the National Gallery may be another ^nterpretation of the same theme . In all of these pictures the woman is coarse in type and lumpy in form, though the modelling is soft and round, the effect which Rembrandt always strove to gain . Beauty of form was outside his art . But the so-called " See also:Danae " (1636) at St See also:Peters-See also:burg is a sufficient reply to those who deny his ability ever to appredate the beauty of the nude See also:female form . It glows with colour and life, and the See also:blood seems to pulsate under the warm skin . In the picturesque story of See also:Tobit Rembrandt found much to interest him, as we see in the beautiful small picture of the d'Arenberg Collection at See also:Brussels: Sight is being restored to the aged Tobias, while with See also:infinite tenderness his wife holds the old man's hand caressingly . The momentary action is See also:complete, and the picture goes straight to the See also:heart . In the Berlin Gallery he paints the anxiety of the parents as they wait the return of their son . In 1637 he painted the fine picture now in the Louvre of the " See also:Flight of the See also:Angel "; and the same subject is grandly treated by him . apparently about 1645, in the picture exhibited in the See also:winter See also:exhibition at See also:Burlington House in 1885 .
Reverence and See also:awe are shown in every attitude of the Tobit family
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A similar lofty treatment is to be found in the " See also:Christ as the Gardener," appearing to See also:Mary, of 1638 (Buckingham Palace)
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We have now arrived at the year 164o, the See also:threshold of his second manner, which extended to 1654, the See also:middle age of Rembrandt
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During the latter See also:part of the previous See also:decade we find the shadows more transparent and the blending of light and shade more perfect
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There is a growing power in every part of his art
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The coldness of his first manner had disappeared, and the tones were gradually changing into See also:golden-See also: The fantastic rendering of himself has disappeared; he seems more conscious of his dignity and position . He has now many friends and pupils, and numerous commissions, even from the See also:stadtholder; he has bought a large house in the Breedstraat, in which during the next sixteen years of his life he gathers his large collection of paintings, engravings, See also:armour and See also:costume which figure afterwards in his See also:inventory . His See also:taste was wide and his purchases large, for he was See also:joint owner with picture-dealers of paintings by See also:Giorgione and See also:Palma Vecchio, while for a high-priced See also:Marcantonio Raimondi See also:print he gave in See also:exchange a fine impression of his " Christ Healing the Sick," which has since been known as the " See also:Hundred Guilder Print." The stadtholder was not a prompt payer, and an interesting See also:correspondence took place` between Rembrandt and Constantin See also:Huygens, the poet and secretary of the See also:prince . The Rembrandt letters which have come down to us are few, and these are therefore of importance . Rembrandt puts a high value on the picture, which he says had been painted " with much care and zeal," but he is willing to take what the prince thinks proper; while to Huygens he sends a large picture as a See also:present for his trouble in carrying through the business . There is here no sign of the grasping greed with which he has been charged, while his unselfish conduct is seen in the See also:settlement of the family affairs at the death of his mother in 164o . The year 1642 is remarkable for the great picture formerly known as the " See also:Night See also:Watch," but now more correctly as the ' Sortie of the Banning See also:Cock See also:Company," another of the landmarks of Rembrandt's career, in which twenty-nine life-sized civic guards are introduced issuing See also:pell-mell from their See also:club house . Such See also:gilds of arquebusiers had been painted admirably before by Ravesteyn and notably by Frans See also:Hals, but Rembrandt determined to throw life and animation into the scene, which is full of bustle and See also:movement . The dominant colour is the citron yellow See also:uniform of the See also:lieutenant, wearing a See also:blue .See also:sash, while a See also:Titian-like red See also:dress of a musketeer, the See also:black See also:velvet dress of the See also:captain, and the varied See also:green of the girl and drummer, all produce a See also:rich and harmonious effect . The background has become dark and heavy by accid;nt or neglect, and the scutcheon on whi-h the names are painted is scarcely to be seen . It is to be observed that, as proved by the copy by Gerrit Lundens in the National Gallery, it represents not a " night watch," except in name, but a See also:day watch . But this year of great achievement was also the year of his great loss, for Saskia died in 1642, leaving Rembrandt her See also:sole trustee for her son Titus, but with full use of the See also:money till he should marry again or till the marriage of Titus . The words of the will See also:express her love for her See also:husband and her confidence in him . With her death his life was changed . Bode has remarked that there is a pathetic sadness in his pictures of the See also:Holy Family—a favourite subject at this period of his life . All of these he treats with the naive simplicity of Reformed Holland, giving us the real See also:carpenter'sshop and the mother watching over the See also:Infant reverently and lovingly, with a fine union of See also:realism and See also:idealism . The See also:street in which he lived was full of Dutch and Portuguese See also:Jews, and many a Jewish See also:rabbi sat to him . He accepted or invented their turbans and See also:local dress as characteristic of the people . But in his religious pictures it is not the costume we look at; what strikes us is the profound See also:perception of the sentiment of the story, making them true to all time and See also:independent of local circumstance . A notable example of this feeling is to be found in the " Woman Taken in See also:Adultery " of the National Gallery, painted in 1644 in the manner of the " Simeon of the Hague . Beyond the See also:ordinary claims of art, it commands our attention from the grand conception of the painter who here, as in other pictures and etchings, has invested Christ with a majestic dignity which recalls Lionardo and no other . A similar lofty ideal is to be found in his various renderings of the Pilgrims at See also:Emmaus," notably in the Louvre picture of 1648, in which, as Mrs See also:Jameson says, " he returns to those first spiritual principles which were always the See also:dowry of See also:ancient art." From the same year we have the " Good Samaritan " of the Louvre, the story of which is told with intense pathos . The helpless suffering of the wounded man, the curiosity of the boy on tiptoe, the excited faces at the upper window, are all conveyed with masterly skill . In these last two pictures we find a broader See also:touch and freer handling, while the tones pass into a dull yellow and brown with a marked predilection for deep rich red .
Whether it was that this See also:scheme of colour found no favour with the Amsterdamers, who, as Hoop straten tells us, could not understand the " Sortie," it seems certain that Rembrandt was not invited to take any leading part in the celebration of the See also:congress of See also:Westphalia (1648)
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Rembrandt touched no See also:side of art without setting his See also:mark on it, whether in still life, as in his dead birds or the " Slaughtered Ox " of the Louvre (with its repetitions at See also:Glasgow and See also:Budapest), or in his drawings of elephants and lions, all of which are See also:instinct with life
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But at this period of his, career we come upon a See also:branch of his art on which he left, both in etching and in painting, the See also:stamp of his See also:genius, viz. landscape
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Roeland Roghman, but ten years his See also:senior, evidently influenced his See also:style, for the resemblance between their works is so great that, as at Cassel, there has been confusion of authorship
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See also:Hercules Seghers also was much appreciated by Rembrandt, for at his See also:sale eight pictures by this master figure in the inventory, and Vosmaer discovered that Rembrandt had worked on a See also:plate by Seghers and had added figures to an etched " Flight into See also:Egypt." The earliest pure landscape known to us from Rembrandt s hand is that at the Ryks Museum (1637-38), followed in the latter year by those at See also:Brunswick, See also:Cracow and See also:Boston (U.S.A.), and that dated 1638 and belonging to Mr G
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See also:Rath in Budapest
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Better known is the " Winter Scene " of Cassel (1646), silvery and delicate
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As a See also:rule in his painted landscape he aims at grandeur and poetical effect, as in the " Repose of the Holy Family " of 1647 (formerly called the " See also:Gipsies "), a moonlight effect, clear even in the shadows
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The " See also:Canal " of See also:Lord See also:Lansdowne, and the " See also:Mountain Landscape with Approaching See also:Storm," the See also:sun shining out behind the heavy clouds, are both conceived and executed in this spirit
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A similar poetical vein runs through the " See also:Castle on the See also: |