Today: Rembrandt passed away in 1669


Rembrandt_van_Rijn_-_Self-Portrait_-_Google_Art_ProjectSelf-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar (1659) by Rembrandt

The Power of Art – Rembrandt (BBC):

From Wikipedia:   

Birth name Rembrant Harmenszoon van Rijn
Born 15 July 1606
Leiden, Dutch Republic (now Netherlands)
Died 4 October 1669 (aged 63)
Amsterdam, Dutch Republic (now Netherlands)
Nationality Dutch
Field Painting, Printmaking
Movement Dutch Golden Age
Baroque
Works The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632
Belshazzar’s Feast, 1635
The Night Watch, 1642
Bathsheba at Her Bath, 1654
Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild, 1662

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement that historians call the Dutch Golden Age when Dutch Golden Age painting, although in many ways antithetical to the Baroque style that dominated Europe, was extremely prolific and innovative.

Self-portrait_at_34_by_RembrandtSelf Portrait at age 34

Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt’s later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. Rembrandt’s greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.

In his paintings and prints he exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, which he molded to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt’s knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam’s Jewish population. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called “one of the great prophets of civilization.”

One of his greatest works: The Night Watch

The_Nightwatch_by_Rembrandt

 

 


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