Rembrandt and his painting
Rembrandt van Rijn (born in 1606, Leiden), son of Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn. After 7 years school education (1613-1620), Rembrandt went to the Philosophical Faculty of Leiden University to study Classics. Later he stopped his short learning there and worked as an apprentice (1622-24) of painter Jacob Isaacszoon van Swanenburgh. And later Rembrandt worked as pupil of Pieter Lastman, a master of historical paintings, Rembrandt learnt a lot from him, and it showed in his later works.
Rembrandt went back to Leiden and built his own art painting studio with his friend, Jan Lievens. Rembrandt began his creation of historical paintings, Tobit and Anna (1626), The Ass of Balaam Talking before the Angel. (1626). Rembrandt painted more than 100 self-portraits. He also made many engravings and etchings.
Secretary of the governor Prince Frederick Hendrick gave the opportunity to help Rembrandt got commissions of paintings jobs and let him get fame. In 1630, Rembrandt went to Amsterdam, he lived in the house of, Hendrick van Uylenburgh who was an art dealer. Prince Frederick Hendrick purchased a few paintings from Rembrandt and asked him to paint the Passion cycle.
Rembrandt became a widely welcome portraitist and began to get many commissions of paintings for portraits of rich patricians.
In 1634, Rembrandt became a member of the Guild of St. Luke, built a few big oil painting studios, where he taught students and followers, pupils.
Although lots of commissions of paintings, the cost of pupils and the etchings, Rembrandt had a big financial burden, in 1656, Rembrandt went bankrupt. His house and paintings were auctioned.
Resources about Rembrandt on the internet:
However, the succeeding half-year studies under Pieter Lastman, the Amsterdam artist of historical paintings, influenced
Rembrandt¡¯s work much deeper. In 1625 the 19-year-old
Rembrandt returned to Leiden and opened his own studio, ...
