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Biography of Rembrandt Harmensz van RijnName: Rembrandt Harmensz van RijnBirth Date: July 15, 1606 Death Date: October 4, 1669 Place of Birth: Leiden, Netherlands Nationality: Dutch Gender: Male Occupations: artist Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669) was the paramount artist of the great age of Dutch painting. In range, originality, and expressive power his large production of paintings, drawings, and etchings has never been surpassed.In the attempt to grasp the full measure of the achievement of Rembrandt, the mistake has sometimes been made of interpreting his works as an autobiography. This they are not. His experiences are reflected in his works not directly, but transfigured into art. The events of art are different in nature from the events of life, and we understand very little about the relations between these two different realms of being. The few mundane facts we know about Rembrandt's life do not begin to explain his works or account for his extraordinary capacities.Rembrandt was born in Leiden on July 15, 1606, next to the last of the nine or more children of the miller Harmen Gerritsz van Rijn …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…its reproductions leave much to be desired. Far more satisfactory are the plates in Horst Gerson, Rembrandt Paintings (1968), which includes excellent essays on Rembrandt's life and his place in Dutch painting. The way in which our understanding of Rembrandt can best be increased, through the study in depth of individual works, is admirably demonstrated by Julius S. Held, Rembrandt's "Aristotle" and Other Rembrandt Studies (1969). Arthur M. Hind, A Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings (1923; 2d rev. ed. 1967), is the standard catalog of the prints; and Otto Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt (6 vols., 1954-1957), is the basic reference work on the drawings.Recommended for general background are Paul Zumthor, Daily Life in Rembrandt's Holland (1959; trans. 1963); Pieter Geyl, The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century (2 vols., 1961-1964); Jakob Rosenberg, Seymour Slive, and E. H. ter Kuile, Dutch Art and Architecture, 1600-1800 (1966); and Johan H. Huizinga, Dutch Civilization in the Seventeenth Century and Other Essays, selected by Pieter Geyl (1968). |